The Wild West: The Internet and Piracy

Choman Saleem

         The Wild West: The Internet and Piracy

     The Old west is always depicted as wild and dangerous, a frontier where only the ruthless flourished. The Wild West we see in moves is often shown as a place people could find opportunity, utilize natural resources, and develop yourself. Often times the Internet is compared directly to the Wild West. Even though the Internet is used by a wide population of people across the world, there’s still a lot of room for growth and development. As the Internet becomes more developed and explored, it will eventually need to be more mature and regulated, just like the current West today. Recently many governments have tried to do just that.

     The  US government has tried to step in and censor the Internet with a number of bills. Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was introduced to give the United States law enforcement means to fight online piracy and basically give U.S. a strong grip over the Internet. The bill would criminalize Internet users for streaming copyrighted content and implement a maximum penalty of five years in prison. SOPA was backed by a legislation stating the need to “protect intellectual-property”.

Although plenty of copyrighted content such as music, videos, and games get downloaded illegally, passing such a bill would interfere with a large number of Internet users and businesses worldwide. Such  bills would end a variety of online communities, such as YouTube and online blogs. Old business models cannot be compared to new models based on the Internet economy. The lawmakers are stepping into a game which they have little to know idea of how to play.

Source:
http://www.smartplanet.com/blog/science-scope/internet-censorship-bill-may-kill-american-innovation-jobs/11413