A pair of bills currently making their way through US legislature has set off alarm bells among internet technologists and users worldwide. The aim of PROTECT-IP, in the Senate, and SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act), in the US House of Representatives, is to prevent the infringment of copyrights on US intellectual property such as movies, music and books by websites located outside US jurisdiction.It was argued recently on The Conversation that SOPA would pave the way for greater regulation of the internet, and that this was inevitable.But the broad aims and language of these bills have caused concerns that their passage will cause severe damage to the technical foundation of the internet and destroy it as a medium for the free flow of information. To understand why this may happen, it’s essential to know how websites are located on the internet.To read this article by by Srikumar Venugopal, Doctor; Lecturer in Computer Science and Engineering at University of New South Wales, on The Conversation blog in full, see:
theconversation.edu.au/sopa-bill-could-wreck-the-internet-4434