Wikipedia's blackout to protest against two anti-piracy legislative proposals under consideration at the US Congress

On 18.1.2012 Wikipedia (together with some minor web-sites) has carried out a 24-hour black-out to express its firm protest against the adoption of anti-piracy provisions s.c."SOPA" (Stop Online Piracy Act) and "PIPA" (Protect Intellectual Property Act), presently under discussion respectively at the House of Representatives and at the Senate. The laws aim at fighting on-line piracy by means of, inter alia, preventing the access to the web-sites that convey pirated contents (such as illegal copies of movies or music), tightening the penalties (up to 5 years imprisonment), disabling the links to the web-sites and prohibiting advertising spots. Internet Community has revolted in the name of freedom of expression and has up to date obtained the discussion on SOPA to be postponed of 1 month. The most contested measures are the ones that would allow the music and movie industry, as well as televisions, to sue the web-sites that publish or support pirated material, and that would enable the Government to censor the contents of some researches on the web.


01/19/2012 | Copyright