Sopa and Wikipedia Shutting Down

Wednesday’s online blackout protestled by Wikipedia, Google, and Facebook has done more than hack away support for SOPA; it’s actualized a becoming phenomenon revolving around a new agent for indirect lobbying.  The battle between Hollywood and intellectual property lobbyists against the internet community will spell a long-standing dispute over the Internet as a medium for public access and, more so, the Internet as a mechanism for setting a political agenda.

Wikipedia’s blackout efforts alone have resulted in record amounts of direct phone-calls from constituents to their representatives against passing SOPA, particularly portions having to do with content regulation.  Mobilization against a single bill in a single day has arguably never been achieved before, which makes online giants formidable agents in policy setting. 

Curiosity begins to climax especially mid-stride surfacing allegations that lobbying firm Bill Pottingerwas altering content on Wikipedia in favor of its clients.  Wikipedia could, and arguably has, become a political-ideological battleground.  Volunteer Wiki editor Robert Lawton criticized the decision, noting that it opens up a floodgate in politicizing what should be public domains of independent information.  Lawton warns that, “Before we know it, we’re blacked out because we want to save the whales.”

The devil, however, remains in the details.  Both supporters and opponents of the legislation in Hollywood and Silicon Valley have allegedly spent more than $1 billion dollars on killing the bill or getting it approved, making the bill one of the most expensive pieces of legislation to show up in Congress.  Supporters argue SOPA is a necessity in curbing piracy and safeguarding American jobs while opponents noteit will expose web creators to frivolous litigation and ineffective regulation that, in the end, will fail to curb piracy at the expense of Google, Youtube, and all of its users. 

However cynical, the current dispute marks another emerging threat to democracy, a threat that could arguably amplify the already existing issue of minority control on the mass majority.  While public access to knowledge is certainly a right, knowledge can be easily perverted to reflect certain interests.  The American populace should approach the ongoing debate cautiously.  Both the passive influence sites like Wikipedia have on its users and now the active influence it has on Congress project an interesting transformation in political culture, one that won’t end with whether or not SOPA actually becomes law.  

Think Ingsoc: “Whoever controls the past controls the future and whoever controls the present controls the past.”