Sunday Video: ‘SOPA and PIPA: How we got here’

The latest news on the two bills that could “destroy the internet as we know it,” the Stop Online Piracy Act (“SOPA”) and the Protect IP Act (“PIPA”), shows the White House is now voicing its concerns. In a response penned by three staffers, including U.S. CTO Aneesh Chopra, it said that the White House…

The latest news on the two bills that could “destroy the internet as we know it,” the Stop Online Piracy Act (“SOPA”) and the Protect IP Act (“PIPA”), shows the White House is now voicing its concerns. In a response penned by three staffers, including U.S. CTO Aneesh Chopra, it said that the White House would “not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.”

Also discussed in their response is another act, OPEN: Online Protection & Enforcement of Digital Trade Act, which was introduced as an alternative to SOPA and PIPA.

To help our readers understand these pieces of legislation better as well as keep an eye on them, we’ll be publishing a list of resources this week, especially those with relevance to the Silicon Prairie. (If you’d like to suggest a resource, such as a blog post, please send it to editor@siliconprairienews.com.) We first covered SOPA and PIPA in December with a guest post by two Des Moines attorneys, “What new piracy legislation would mean for Silicon Prairie startups,” but haven’t shed a spotlight on it since.

This week’s Sunday Video, “SOPA and PIPA: How we got here,” presents a short history of the bill, which starts with efforts in the summer of 2010 and goes through December 8, the introduction of the OPEN Act. The video is produced by a Public Knowledge, a public interest group that, according to it’s Twitter profile, is “fighting for your digital rights in Washington, D.C.” The group is against SOPA and PIPA, which is made clear in the video.

Video credits: Video from acurtis on YouTube.

This story is part of the AIM Archive

This story is part of the AIM Institute Archive on Silicon Prairie News. AIM gifted SPN to the Nebraska Journalism Trust in January 2023. Learn more about SPN’s origin »

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