One of the most amazing things about the 21st century is the ability the world’s population has to connect with one another using the power of the internet. From the press of a button, almost anyone can communicate with the person of their choice in a matter of seconds. The internet is a place where freedom of speech reigns, but there is a great possibility of the digital freedom age ending. From acts of congress and Hollywood filmmakers, to the NSA, the very idea of internet rights could easily disappear in the blink of an eye.
Although there are many reasons that world powers would like to limit internet usage, a big reason would be the considerable amount of piracy that occurs within the boundaries of the World Wide Web. In October of 2011, a bill was introduced in the United States to help protect intellectual property on the internet. The bill was called the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA for short, and it aimed to make it easier for companies such as Hollywood film studios to request that websites not link to other sites with infringed material. If the website did not comply with this request then those sites could also be blocked or taken down by court order. This means that a website like Facebook or Google would have to filter the entirety of its user-based content to make sure that no copyrighted material would be posted or even mentioned of. This would be incredibly hard because of the tedious amount of effort it would take to filter the internet, according to the National Review, “In July 2011, Google received about 130,000 requests per week to remove links to infringing content. By December 2012, it was receiving 2.5 million per week.” (Karaganis) Not only does this high amount of infringing content removal requests …
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…ey’re not doing anything illegal, they have nothing to hide. Even if a person had nothing to hide, that does not mean that their fourth amendment rights can be broken by unreasonable searches and seizures.
Hollywood filmmakers, the NSA, even other country’s governments have done things that could make internet rights disappear. The internet is one of the most amazing innovations of our generation and it is up to us to protect its current state. From Hollywood film companies trying to protect their intellectual property, to the United States government attempting to protect national security, there are many parties that are threatening internet freedom. They look at the benefits of their actions but not the drawbacks that might affect regular citizens. Hopefully with the awareness of the people of the world, internet rights will continue to be an important topic.
