Discussion Post
Which brings us to SOPA and PIPA. SOPA was killed by the U.S. House of Representatives (one of the few times some Congressional Republicans sided with Obama) and PIPA died in the U.S..
• What were full names of the acts in Congress acronymed as "SOPA" and "PIPA" and what were they designed to do?
Neither of these statutes died in Congress because of "hackavists" or Net freedom crusaders. They died because Google, Wikipedia, Facebook, Amazon, and Twitter went to war against Hollywood, the music industry, the gaming industry, Wall Street, and won. Is that necessarily a good thing-when GODZILLA FIGHTS ANOTHER SCARY MONSTER does that necessarily mean WE small humans benefit? Should we pick the tech giants' side? After all, when the NSA was and is doing surveillance on US citizens, domestically... Uncle Sam is helpless without the assistance of one set of these scary monsters doing the 'dirty work.'
They managed, with their influence, to get millions of folks to sign petitions against PIPA and SOPA, to influence Obama and lobby Congress with money and pressure, more than the entertainment industry. A content blackout on the Internet didn't help Hollywood's plight. Perhaps you remember that. Or the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and how it has changed intellectual property.
• Why was the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), signed into law by President Clinton in 1998 relevant to this offensive conduct/sick prank?
Recall the Asiana Airlines crash in Summer 2013, when media outlets, both legacy (newspaper and magazine, broadcast and cable networks) and digital, scrambled to get the video, the story, the flash out first? The crash landing in San Francisco flooded national and local news networks for days. It was during this time that a Fox affiliate, San Francisco station KTVU, "confirmed" the names of the pilots of the doomed flight and announced them on-air. It was immediately obvious the names given, "Captain Sum Ting Wong," "Wi Tu Lo," "Ho Lee Fuk," and "Bang Ding Ow," were not only incorrect, but also a racist joke. The station and reporter quickly apologized for the mistake but the damage had been done, and the clip exploded all over social media and TV. NOTE/HINT: Often for reasons not having anything to do with copyright infringement, we see the DMCA pop up. Just check YouTube, World Star HipHop, even Vimeo for the number of videos taken down or blacked out; it is said that perhaps 40% are due to issues NOT pertaining to improper or unlicensed content.
The response must include a reference list. One-inch margins, double-space, Using Times New Roman 12 pnt font and APA style of writing and citations.