Breaking News: Internet Policy

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On a January evening in 2011, Egypt – with a population of 80 million, including 23 million Internet users – vanished from cyberspace after its government ordered an Internet blackout amidst anti-government protests that led to the ouster of Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak. The following month, the Libyan government, also under siege, imposed an Internet “curfew” before completely cutting off access for almost four days.

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Stephen B. Wicker, a professor of electrical and computer engineering at Cornell University, conducts research in wireless information networks and how regulation can affect privacy and speech rights. Wicker comments on the recent WikiLeaks releases, how those releases connect to SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act), and the need to balance Internet freedom.

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Internet law and copyright expert Ned Snow is available to comment on the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act and the Senate’s Protect IPA Act, both of which have begun to lose Congressional support. If passed, the bills would curb illegal downloading and streaming of TV shows and movies online.

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Tarleton Gillespie, a professor of communication and information science at Cornell University, comments on today’s protests by Wikipedia and other websites over potential federal antipiracy legislation.

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Bowling Green State University has two experts available to comment on the Wikipedia protest, SOPA and PIPA legislation.

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Wikipedia and other sites plan to go dark to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act under consideration in Congress. Three law professors from Washington University in St. Louis, Kevin Collins, Gregory Magarian and Neil Richards, signed a letter to Congress in opposition to the PROTECT IP Act. Read Magarian and Richards’ current comments on SOPA and PROTECT IP.