We live in a time period where the Internet has become nothing less than essential to our daily lives. From Google, to Facebook, to awkwardfamilyphotos.com, we would not be as efficient, educated or entertained as we are without the current liberties the Internet allows. The SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect I.P. Act) currently going through Congress are designed to curb the use of pirated materials. At first glance, it seems like a logical bill. But when they are looked at in more detail it becomes very apparent that they are very destabilizing to the infrastructure and destructive to the spirit of the Internet. Put simply, they must be stopped.
The information below is meant to help explain how SOPA and PIPA work and give insight into the ultimate affect the passing of them would have on the Internet and inadvertently our lives.
A little summary: the Stop Online Piracy Act and its sister bill Protect I.P. Act use what is called DNS blacklisting to block websites that illegally share copyrighted material. A DNS blacklist is essentially an order for the removal of the translation between a domain name and its corresponding IP address. In other words, a DNS blacklist – by design – does not disconnect the website from the Internet but only deletes the location of where on the Internet the website is located.
In (somewhat) simpler terms: the Internet uses what is called an IP address to identify each computer on the Internet. An IP address for a computer (or web server) is synonymous to a phone number for a person; it is used to identify where computers are on the Internet and how to contact them. To get information (like a webpage) from a website one must know the exact IP address of the web server. However, IP addresses are hard for humans to remember (its easier to remember www.google.com over 74.125.224.209—Google’s actual IP address) and IP addresses can change over time. To solve this problem, the creators of the Internet made what is called the Domain Name Service (also known as DNS), which translates www.google.com – a domain name – into 74.125.224.209 – the most current IP address for www.google.com. This process makes the internet much easier to use, allows servers to change IP addresses without changing their domain name, and functions as one of the core functions of the Internet.
SOPA uses DNS blacklisting. Normally when an Internet user asks DNS for the IP address of www.google.com it will return 74.125.224.209. This is good. However, a DNS blacklist essentially removes this translation from the DNS server directory. So if www.google.com was under a DNS blacklisting, the server would return nothing when I asked for the IP address for www.google.com. This is bad. This is bad because the www.google.com website is still online and accessible to the Internet, the computer just can’t find the most up-to-date IP address for it. If an Internet user still knew the correct IP address they could still access www.google.com. This is where the security problem with SOPA comes in and where network professionals have testified before Congress about the horrendous implementation of SOPA/PIPA. The security concern is that if people cannot use US based DNS servers to access a blacklisted site, they will ask non-US based DNS servers (to which SOPA and DNS blacklisting do not apply) for the IP address. The details—like the bills themselves—get complicated very quickly, but ultimately this would be incredibly destructive and degenerative to the security of the Internet.
Most websites exist for the spread of information and ideas to the respective communities of people that can be found on each site. Most news websites, blogs, social media sites, etc. are open to anybody to post comments and it allows an uncensored look into the opinions of these online communities. If SOPA were to be passed, the law would say that each website (let’s use www.pepperdine-graphic.com—The Pepperdine Graphic website) is responsible, and therefore liable, for any copyrighted material on the website regardless of its origin. Furthermore, it means that The Pepperdine Graphic is responsible for user comments and any copyrighted material (music, image, video, wording, etc.) that any user might upload to the website via a comment. This would directly mean that commenting would have to be strictly monitored or removed altogether from the site to limit the liability and chance of violating the new law. Although this task is manageable for smaller sites with less traffic, it would signal an abrupt end to websites like Google, YouTube, Facebook, or any site that relies heavily on user submissions. In short, that this bill will single-handedly change the landscape of the Internet and the free spread of information in a very drastic and harmful way.
The most dangerous aspect of this rule is that a website (again we will use the Pepperdine Graphic) can be DNS blacklisted by anybody who disagrees with the Graphic’s point of view by simply uploading copyrighted material and submitting a claim. These claims are taken on a faith-basis and do not require a court order to be enacted. Frankly, this alone should scare anyone that engages in dialogue on the Internet incredibly much. This rule would completely stunt the flow of information on the Internet and would completely ruin the legacy and work of millions of network professionals and website administrators.
This is the argument of the men and women testifying before Congress next week against SOPA/PIPA. A day-long protest against SOPA/PIPA is taking place January 18th with what is called a blackout-putting a black screen over the site and barring any person from accessing the website for one day. In support of the protest the Pepperdine Graphic website will be participating in the black out on the aforementioned date.
As a website that is partially reliant on user submissions, we strongly believe the message about SOPA/PIPA needs to spread. While we acknowledge that copyright infringement is an issue that needs to be addressed, this is definitely not how it should be done. These laws make no attempt to meet the demands of the consumer market and would arguably make piracy more widely used.
Chances are you’ve heard people protesting these Bills. Unfortunately, most people don’t have an opinion for or against SOPA merely because they do not understand it. Hopefully this information has sparked concern, and all Internet users will do their part to stand up against SOPA/PIPA laws that will permanently damage the infrastructure of the Internet as we know it.
For more information on the stop SOPA movement and to find a way to get involved click the links below.
http://www.craigslist.org/about/SOPA
http://www.fastcompany.com/1808216/remain-diligent-sopa-and-pipa-must-be-squashed-not-changed
http://www.zdnet.com/blog/btl/reddit-will-enact-nuclear-option-to-protest-sopa-pipa/66739
http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/2EtrER/gigaom.com/2012/01/13/tim-oreilly-why-im-fighting-sopa/
UPDATE: As mentioned in the comments the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) has been pulled – or temporarily “shelved” – from the House floor over the MLK-holiday weekend. However, SOPA has not been officially killed and the Protect I.P. Act (PIPA) is still alive and well in the Senate. The White House has issued an official press statement that declares opposition to SOPA and was the key reason for SOPA’s removal; however, the bill can still be reintroduced to the House floor in the near future if “a consensus can be reached.” The Pepperdine Graphic will still be participating in the blackout on January 18th primarily in opposition to the Senate PIPA Bill and to any future, reintroduced version of SOPA.
