By Rich Bockmann
U.S. Sens. Charles Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Kirsten Gillibrand (D-N.Y.) are reconsidering two controversial pieces of legislation they co-sponsored aimed at thwarting online piracy after a number of the Web’s most prominent companies staged an online protest last week.
On Jan. 18, visitors to Wikipedia were met with a blackened screen that read “For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet.”
“For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia,” the message concluded.
Criticism of the U.S. House of Representatives Stop Online Piracy and the Senate Protect Intellectual Property acts — known as SOPA and PIPA, respectively — had been building for weeks from detractors, who said the bills went too far in allowing the government to shut down websites that facilitate — even if only passively — illegal downloads of copyrighted materials.
Following the protests, several key legislators pulled back their support and vowed to retool the bills. The New York senators released a joint statement citing the need to balance the freedom of expression on the Internet with the ability to block online piracy.
“We’ve had many discussions and held many meetings with all parts of the Internet community — from users, to members of the NY Tech Meet-up, to start-ups, to big Internet firms like Google, Facebook and Yahoo — to hear their concerns regarding this proposed legislation, and we’ll continue those discussions,” the statement read.
“After constructive dialogue with many in the technology community, we have worked to make an important change in the bill regarding DNS provisions,” they said. “We will continue to work with our colleagues to ensure a proper balance between stopping the theft of intellectual property and copyright infringement and doing so without the unintended consequence of stifling or censoring the Internet, which we strongly oppose.”
Different websites came up with novel ways of “censoring” themselves, from the search engine Google — which placed a black bar over its logo — to Wired magazine, which placed black bars over the text on its site as if it were redacted.
SOPA and PIPA were backed by the entertainment industry in an attempt to stop piracy on the Internet, but the protest against the bills was not limited to the kings of new media, as some lesser-known websites also voiced their opposition by going black.
Woodside resident Jeff Orlick said he chose to black out his Queens restaurant review site, iwantmorefood.com, after finding out about Wikipedia’s plans.
“I knew about the problems with SOPA and PIPA for a while, but I didn’t know about the blackout until the night before,” he said. “It really didn’t take much thought to join the protest against the legislation. I had my site blacked out almost immediately within the hour.”
The 4-year-old site reviews what Orlick said are some of the more “underground” areas of the city, and includes a special section dedicated to finding the best pizza in the five boroughs. He said the former Sal’s Pizza on Northern Boulevard in Little Neck — now under new management and called Bocconcini — had some of Queens’ best slices.
“That place was a legend. He retired, and unfortunately I heard the new place is just OK,” he said.
Orlick was glad to see the protests appeared effective — proof, he said, of the political power the Internet can wield.
“If my site wasn’t up, it would be a big loss of a small voice,” he said. “That’s very important for the Internet.”
Reach reporter Rich Bockmann by e-mail at rbockmann@cnglocal.com or by phone at 718-260-4574.
