How SOPA Legislation Was Slayed (For Now)

Up until recently, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) looked to change the face of the Internet as we know it, causing a major censorship scare that sent shockwaves through the Internet. To the relief of many concerned citizens and web-based companies, the legislation has been put out of comission. For now.

Touted as a means to end online piracy, SOPA was supported heavily by the MPAA, RIAA alongside many lobbyists and politicians. It all doesn't sound so bad on paper, right? Piracy is bad, right? Sure, but at the expense of an Internet landscape with freedom of speeds and the First Amendment in tact? Much of the public and many tech-based companies weren't going to have it.

News of SOPA crept slowly throughout online news outlets, but was largely ignored by mainstream media. Almost never mentioned on television and often overshadowed by the current Republican primary race, the legislation looked likely to pass while the rest of us were sleeping on it. So how was this sleeping giant of a bill finally put to bed?

Blackout.

On January 18th, a number of the web's biggest names blacked out their logos and entire sites in protest of SOPA. Notable participants included Google, Wikipedia, Wired and Reddit among others. Google's blacked-out logo redirected to a petition to stop SOPA, which eventually went on to receive over seven million signatures. Sites such as Wikipedia were entirely unusable; any search queries redirected to a blacked-out page with a call to action to fight against Internet censorship. The blackout perhaps represents a taste of what users may see if SOPA had passed and disabled some of their favorite sites.

Many protesters took to Social Media, making the public aware of the legislation through strategic tweets and Facebook updates. Another popular means of protest was by users changing their profile pictures to symbols of censorship, or messages that stated that their profile pictures violated the terms of SOPA.

The protests represent the power of Social Media in today's society. As we saw with the protests in Egypt in 2011, Social Media has a special place in the passions of young people and as a means to spread news like wildfire. A number of anti-SOPA messages remained trending topics on Twitter during the blackout, and Google's seven-million signature petition is quite telling in and of itself.

And politicians listened. The following day it was announced that a number of those who originally sponsored the bill withdrew their support. Meanwhile, calls and emails flooded to the offices of local politicians showed how passionate and dedicated the common public was against such legislation. The bill has reluctantly been shelved in its current form, with many agreeing that something should be done about piracy, but SOPA as it was written was wrought with regulations and would have resulted in a mess of web-based red tape.

It seems that protesters have won the battle, but the war is far from over. Anti-piracy legislation still looms. If people and businesses cease to remain vigilant and critical of these forthcoming bills, they could slip under our noses as SOPA almost did. Thanks to the blackout, however, awareness for such legislation is at an all-time high. It all just goes to show that a bit of cyber-civil disobedience can go a long way.