Vacation News

Internet Regulation: Black Ops
By: Babbage
Published on: January 17, 2012          Accessed on: January 18, 2012

Summary: On Wednesday, a couple of websites, which include Wikipedia, Mozilla, etc. will issue a black out for twelve hours on their websites to show and protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PIPA law that are currently in debate in the House of Representatives. These new law in consideration are targeted toward stopping unauthorized streaming and sharing of copyrighted material. These laws are under much criticism from many critics. They argue that SOPA especially may not be the right solution as it may affect law-abiding businesses. If the bill is passed, many American websites may have their services blocked and have their websites shut down. Many people have already lashed out against these bills as it would definitely have a huge effect on the way people use the internet.  These websites hope to raise awareness and win supporters against these bills.

Response: It seems to me that if these bills get passed, the face of internet will dramatically change. With the internet part of our daily lives, such a change would force everyone to approach the internet in a different and more wary manner. The internet is where you have the freedom to express yourself and explore what the world has to offer. It is an infamous vast world of information. I hope these bills are not passed because much of the internet we know today would change significantly. Also, knowing that I will be returning back home to America after high school and to go to a place where the internet has been blocked in so many places would not be good. Sites like Wikipedia are essential to the student's life and to have it taken away would definitely hurt. I am curious to see how the world and the internet will respond in the next couple days as awareness spreads and I'm glad being on vacation, the black out won't affect me too much.

Definitions
Curb
1. "Both are meant to curb unauthorised sharing and streaming of copyrighted content by requiring American hosting companies..."
2. Definition: verb. to check or control with or as if with a curb
    Origin: N/A
    First known use: 1530
3. The student tried to curb the sale of juice by claiming that it was made of rotten fruit.

Dubious
1. "So SOPA would let copyright holders complain to American sites that merely carry links to pirated material abroad, and would force them to comply quickly unless they can show the complaint is dubious."
2. Definition: adj. giving rise to uncertainty
    Origin: Latin dubius, from dubare to vacillate
    First known use: 1548
3. The student had only 10 hours to prove that the other copy of the essay was dubious.


Stanch
1. "Many of the protesting websites see their move as another salvo in the pitched battle against what they describe as grasping copyright holders, bent on combating infringement even if it means staunching the free flow of other, unrelated information."
2. Definition: verb. to stop or check in its course
    Origin: Middle English staunchen
    First known use: 14th century
3. Bob did his best to staunch the rumors that had started about his best friend.