This article first appeared in Entertainment Law Matters, a Frankfurt Kurnit legal blog.
Recently, the Internet was on strike over two bills in Congress, the Stop Online Piracy Act (Senate bill) and the Protect IP Act (House bill), which are aimed at controlling the illegal downloading and streaming of television shows and movies online. Major media companies are backing the bills, hoping to fight piracy by implementing measures like cutting off sales of ads to piracy suspects and delisting them from search engine results. But the technology industry is concerned that the protections may go too far, imposing enormous regulatory costs, and stifling web innovation. In protest, Google and many other sites will point visitors to Web sites describing their opposition to the bills and encouraging users to support their cause by signing petitions or writing to Congressional representatives. Others, like Wired have redacted the text of their sites to make their statement. Wikipedia went even further – the site will was dark for a full 24 hour period.
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