Interview with Lindsay Pinto, communications manager of Open Media.
OpenMedia.ca is joining a growing number of people and popular websites in speaking out against an Internet censorship bill that has been tabled in the US, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
SOPA is a U.S. bill that is designed to block websites based offshore that peddle illegal content. Pro-Internet groups argue that it would give the American government and private corporations so much control over that the very nature of the web would be threatened.
SOPA would allow a judge to order any Internet service provider to block a website and any links to it, including links from websites like Google, Wikipedia, or Reddit. It would effectively give the US government and private corporations the power to cripple sites that allegedly—but not conclusively—make unlicensed use of copyrighted content.
Those foreign websites include those found in Canada. Internet law expert Michael Geist notes that “Canadian businesses and websites could easily find themselves targeted by SOPA.” As Canadian Internet users and online innovators, we have a lot to lose if SOPA is passed. SOPA could fundamentally reshape the Internet in the U.S., Canada, and the rest of the world.
This interview originally aired on CKUT's Wednesday Off The Hour, January 18, 5-6h.