Internet strike stalls ‘piracy’ laws

A massive Internet strike closed down websites large and small on Jan. 18 in opposition to two bills in the U.S. Congress that would tighten corporate domination of the Web and increase censorship.

The bills, known by their acronyms SOPA and PIPA (the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act), are backed by the money and influence of the massive U.S. corporate entertainment industry, including the Motion Picture Association of America and the Recording Industry Association of America.

Besides targeting individual Web users, the legislation is seen as taking aim at countries like China and Russia, which have resisted U.S. corporate domination of their domestic Internet services and copyright laws.

The bills seemed headed for easy passage in Congress. But the political climate is changing, and as word spread of the censorship bills, mass opposition mounted quickly.

The corporate-owned media focused attention on the shutdown of Wikipedia and half-hearted protests by tech-industry-dominated sites like Google and Amazon. But the strike’s real strength came from the millions of Web users in the U.S. and around the world who participated by calling Congress and the White House, holding rallies and educational meetings, replacing their pages for the day with pro-strike information, or just staying off the Internet altogether.

On the micro-blogging platform Tumblr, to give just one example, some 650,000 users reportedly joined the strike, shutting down their personal blog pages for 24 hours. (Tumblr Staff blog, Jan. 20)

The show of Internet-user strength won a temporary victory: Congress declared an indefinite delay to voting on SOPA and PIPA.

But this struggle is only beginning.

The 1% demand Web domination

After years of piecemeal attacks on Internet users for so-called piracy — that is, the free sharing of culture and information — a major section of the U.S. and global ruling class seems intent on carrying out a full-court press to wrangle wholesale control of the Web for the profiteers in the name of “intellectual property rights.”

The government/media propaganda message is that these laws are meant to protect artists’ and inventors’ rights. But the only ones they benefit are the 1% — huge transnational corporations that have stolen people’s ideas and creations for decades in the name of megaprofits.

The corporations’ message is sheer hypocrisy. Their entire capitalist system is built upon piracy, stolen labor and resources, and cultural appropriation.

As millions of websites were shut down in protest of SOPA and PIPA, the U.S. Supreme Court on Jan. 18 joined in the attack on free expression and culture and ruled 6-2 that works of writing, art and music long in the public domain could be re-copyrighted — that is, put under the control of private companies and individuals. The case in question involved millions of works first published abroad from 1923 to 1989.

The public domain is not “a category of constitutional significance,” the court majority ruled. (New York Times, Jan. 18) The decision opens the door to further re-privatization, a long sought-after goal of the corporate entertainment juggernaut.

FBI repression as ACTA looms

The mounting battle for Internet freedom must be seen in the context of the global uprising against capitalist austerity. From Tahrir Square to Occupy Wall Street, this upsurge of class struggle has used the Internet as a tool to mobilize millions into action against the wealthy and powerful.

While the current legislative battle is couched in the language of copyright law, the potential of SOPA and its ilk to be used to repress online political activity and speech is staggering.

On Jan. 19 — just a day after the massive Internet strike — the U.S. government retaliated and shut down the popular file-sharing site MegaUpload. The site’s founder and several associates were arrested in New Zealand.

File-sharing sites are used not only to download movies and music — much of it in the public domain or with artists’ approval — but also as an easy way to share political materials over the Web.

MegaUpload’s homepage is now plastered with fascistic FBI and Department of Justice logos. The FBI attack has had a chilling effect: FileSonic, a similar site, has shut down its file-sharing capabilities, and others are expected to follow suit.

The online protest group Anonymous in turn responded by hacking the homepages of the FBI, the DOJ and entertainment industry giants.

Waiting in the wings is ACTA — the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement — a secret international trade agreement backed by both the Bush and Obama administrations, and about to go before the European Parliament for approval.

Some details of the agreement have been leaked. If enacted, ACTA would force Internet service providers to closely monitor individuals’ Internet use and report suspected “copyright infringement” to governments and copyright holders.

Under ACTA, people traveling across borders could be subject to having their laptops, phones, music players and other personal electronic devices searched for “pirated” content.

With these two provisions alone, the potential for political repression against anti-capitalists or anyone opposing injustice is enormous.

Online activists are now working to spread the word about ACTA and mount a new protest campaign prior to the European vote.