INTERNET CENSORSHIP CONTROVERSY
(Written By Joshua Hill)
As you may remember in 2011, two bills were introduced with the names “Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)’’ & “Protect IP Act’’ (PIPA). When these bills were introduced they were so largely unpopular with not just the public, but also with online entities including Facebook, Google, Reddit & many more, because of their overall censorship of the internet & their overall detrimental effect to Net Neutrality. So to protest these bills, many of these online entities partially or entirely blacked out their sites. They would also give out information telling people why SOPA & PIPA were ultimately infringing on civil liberties. This massive protest & huge opposition would eventually lead to the demise of SOPA & PIPA. So you might be wondering why I'm bringing up old legislation that never ended up passing anyway? Well as we would have it, these bills are in some way returning. You’re probably wondering why you haven't heard anything if such largely unpopular bills are trying to be passed once again. The answer lies with a new identity, (A Type Of Re-Branding) & these bills have taken a new form in what is called “ The Cyber Intelligence Sharing & Protection Act’’ (CISPA).
Now to be honest, SOPA & PIPA are not word for word CISPA. Although CISPA is a second attempt at strengthening digital piracy laws after SOPA & PIPA met huge opposition. CISPA was introduced in the House by republican representative Mike Rogers on November 30, 2011. It Passed the House on April 26, 2012 but fortunately failed to become law when it did not pass the Senate in the same session. Now unfortunately again in February of this year, Representative Mike Rogers has reintroduced CISPA. To understand why this bill is so terrible you must first understand what this bill is & what it does. CISPA is a proposed law which would allow for the sharing of Internet traffic information between the United States Government, the technology & manufacturing companies. It would allow Government officials to spy in on your web browsing & all of your online activity WITHOUT a warrant!