The internet has increasingly been abuzz with news about SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), the controversial anti-piracy bill currently before the US Congress.

Overnight several prominent websites, including Wikipedia and blog service WordPress shut down their sites in protest over the bill, that has the potential to affect Australian websites and businesses.

What SOPA means

SOPA’s proponents claim it will help curb internet piracy, while its opponents say the bill will give the US government extraordinary new powers over what can be shared on the web.

For example, if a US-based studio such as Paramount reports a site in Australia is torrenting one of their films, the studio can demand Google pull the site from its search results, PayPal to longer accept payments and ad services blacklist the site.

Checks and balances

The fact that IP owners can take these measures with little legal preamble is causing concern. This has potential to create an internet blacklist, with the bill’s “vigilante” provision allowing providers to proactively shut off sites it believes are infringing copyright.

Opponents argue this could, for example, lead to Google de-listing viral video sites, leaving its own sites, such as YouTube, with fewer competitors.

Individuals could also face repercussions for posting links to suspect sites on social media pages like Facebook and Twitter.

SOPA reaches Down Under

While SOPA is based in the US, the implications could well be felt including Australia. US web providers host many Australian sites, while Australian “clouds” often live in the US. 

Under SOPA, such Australian sites who mention or link to sites that host potentially infringing content could face severe penalties, including extradition to the US.

The day the web went dark 

On January 18 a number of websites went dark in protest against the proposed bill.

While Australia largely missed the blackout due to the time difference, it appears a number of US lawmakers have since backed away from the bill.

SOPA is currently before the US Congress, which will consider the bill in February.