As blackouts inundated the Internet on Wednesday in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA), many politicians and lawyers — including a University law professor — questioned the government’s authority to regulate online content so extensively.
“There may be some constitutional issues here,” said law professor John Church. “In my own estimation, it’s not the constitutionality which we should be worried about as much as the practical implications of it.”
Popular websites such as Wikipedia, Craigslist and Reddit participated in the blackout. Many students joined the movement by changing the default photos on their Facebook profiles to ones that say, “This image has been found in violation of [SOPA] and has been removed.”
The acts are aimed at stopping online piracy and intellectual property theft. Proponents of the bills say that if passed, the acts would put an end to the piracy of films, music and other media. Opponents of the bills say they are unconstitutional, claiming they violate free-speech rights and are targeted at regulating or even shutting down sites that rely heavily on user-submitted content, such as Facebook and YouTube.
Church explained the government does not currently have the authority to shut down sites on which users share copyrighted material. If passed, the bills would essentially give the government that authority.
Church said personally, he does not believe either bill would do much to stop Internet piracy. His view is that the bills go too far in attempting to protect intellectual property. However, he said he believes Internet piracy is still an issue.
“You have the free Internet, the great advantage of which is that information flows freely, quickly and efficiently,” Church said. “The other side of that, of course, is that intellectual property rights are real rights adopted for real reasons and it’s a problem that they can be easily pirated.”
Some students who are aware of the bills disagree with them. Fashion merchandising sophomore Kate Louttit said she believes it would be hypocritical of the United States to enforce the bills.
“It’s ridiculous that we’re disagreeing with all these countries that are so against freedom of speech or freedom of knowledge, and then here we are stopping our own,” Louttit said.
Proponents of the bill, such as the Motion Picture Association of America, believe the blackout is harmful to consumers. In a press release, former Connecticut senator and current MPAA Chairman and CEO Chris Dodd called the blackouts “an irresponsible response and a disservice to people who rely on them for information and use their services.”
Dodd also called the blackouts “yet another gimmick, albeit a dangerous one, designed to punish elected and administration officials who are working diligently to protect American jobs from foreign criminals.”
But Louttit and other students believe the blackouts will be effective, saying it didn’t bother them that the websites were offline for a day.
“If I were in finals week or had a paper due and they were down, I’d have a problem,” Louttit said. “But there are a lot of people I know that didn’t know what SOPA or PIPA were before the blackouts, so I think it’s working to raise awareness.”
 
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Contact Joey Groner at [email protected]