As we all know that on Wednesday there is a blackout day is scheduled to protest against proposed legislation on online privacy. And it has been failed to get the support from popular and biggest internet players.
Apart from getting support of various sites like Twitter, Facebook and many other names, there are other participants also such as Wikipedia and popular social news website ‘Reddit’. By viewing the situation, we came to know that technology companies are worried about the legislation. The companies like the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Senate’s Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) are not ready to sacrifice a day’s worth revenue and the risk of users’ anger that will blow on lawmakers.
So, all situations are extremely hard to guess for such companies. Biggest encyclopedia ‘Wikipedia’ and popular social news website ‘Reddit’ has decided to black out their pages by which visitors are only view information regarding Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). Amidst all biggest tech websites, only Google is ready to take the risk of change to its site tomorrow. Well, it also has information regarding bills and users are able to search information on Google.
“Like many businesses, entrepreneurs and Web users, we oppose these bills because there are smart, targeted ways to shut down foreign rogue websites without asking American companies to censor the Internet,” said a Google spokeswoman. A source also added “So tomorrow we will be joining many other tech companies to highlight this issue on our US home page.”
Google is allowed to keep its revenue attached to its searched that allowed by solution as still highlighting the issue.
Biggest and most popular Microblogging service provider ‘Twitter’ also refused to participate with Chief executive Dick Costolo intriguing on opponents of the decision on Twitter over the weekend.
He wrote, “”Closing a global business in reaction to single-issue national politics is foolish”.
He also followed up with his tweet by updating that the company will continue to take an active role in opposing the bills.
Watch this space,” he tweeted.
There are many companies that criticizing the bills but sitting out the blackout is hard for all the tech companies comprising various who wrote to Congress in November to complain about the legislation like eBay Inc, Zynga Inc, AOL Inc and Mozilla.
“We are not adjusting the consumer experience on our properties tomorrow, but we will be helping to drive awareness of key issues around these bills to our users,” said Tekedra Mawakana, senior vice president for public policy at AOL.
In November 2011, there are lots of companies that wrote to key lawmakers expressing opposition to the bill comprising Google, Mozilla, Facebook, eBay and Twitter.
But the blackout had signed up various participating websites on Tuesday and it gets success of at least one level. It attracts the attention of lawmakers and industry leaders backing the bills.
“This publicity stunt does a disservice to its users by promoting fear instead of facts,” said Lamar Smith, chairman of the House Judiciary Committee and a sponsor of SOPA. “Perhaps during the blackout, Internet users can look elsewhere for an accurate definition of online piracy.”
Chris Dodd, a Former senator who now chairs the Motion Picture Association of America, labeled this blackout a “gimmick” and he also called for its supports to “stop the hyperbole and PR stunts and engage in meaningful efforts to combat piracy.”
This legislation is designed to control the access and payments to overseas websites that traffic I stolen content or counterfeit groups is main concern for entertainment companies, pharmaceutical firms, publishers and many other industry groups. They also preserve the proposed law which is serious to limitation online piracy they say costs them billions of dollars a year.
Some internet companies are also opposing the legislation and such companies also ramped up their lobbying efforts by arguing that it would weaken originality and free speech rights and compromise the functioning of the Internet.
Until the White House criticized this aspect, this legislation is on the fast track for approval by Congress.
