Wikipedia will black out its English-version site today in protest of two anti-piracy bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the ProtectIP Act (PIPA), now under review in the U.S. House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate respectively. SOPA and PIPA are directed at websites involved in copyright infringement but they also include anti-circumvention provisions that will allow the government to target sites provide information that could assist users’ trying to circumvent these bills’ censorship mechanisms. Trevor Timm, writing for the Electronic Frontier Foundation, argues that this provision “would not only amount to an unconstitutional prior restraint against protected speech, but would severely damage online innovation. And contrary to claims by SOPA’s supporters, this provision—at least what’s been proposed so far—applies to all websites, even those in the U.S.”
In addition to Wikipedia, Google, Yahoo and Facebook have expressed their opposition to SOPA and PIPA. In contrast, organizations and companies such as the Museum Picture Association of America (MPAA) to Pfizer Inc. and Harley-Davidson Motor Company defend the bills as a much needed attempt to control rogue websites trafficking in everything from stolen movies to prescription drugs.
To read more:
Wikipedia’s Press Release and their administrative statement — “SOPA initiative/Action”
H.R. 3261 – Stop Online Piracy Act
S. 968 – Protect IP Act
PCWorld, “SOPA and PIPA: Just the Facts”
Trevor Timm (Electronic Frontier Foundation), “How PIPA and SOPA Violate White House Principles Supporting Free Speech and Innovation”
UCD’s King Hall who was known for his ability to turn “his artistic talents into a powerful tool for battling overzealous copyright laws,” died this past April at the age of 55. Professor Aoki earned a bachelor’s and master’s degree in fine art and drew underground cartoons in New York City before enrolling at Harvard Law School. After graduating, Mr. Aoki practiced law, focusing on technology law, for 2 years in Boston before moving on to a teaching career at the University of Oregon and UC Davis. Mr. Aoki was a strident and creative defender of digital freedom. He is known for his briefs defending the non-profit Electronic Frontier Foundation and Bound by Law? Tales From the Public Domain (Duke U. Press, 2006), a cartoon he wrote and illustrated about a documentary filmmaker confronting copyright restrictions as she attempts to make a film.
According to a federal court judge in New York, artist Richard Prince and the Gagosian Gallery infringed on photographer Patrick Cariou’s copyrights when Prince produced “Canal Zone,” a series of 29 paintings taken from Cariou’s book titled Yes, Rasta. Prince created collages and paintings from photographs — details but also some “used in their entirety or nearly so” — torn from Cariou’s book. Prince’s maintained that Cariou’s photographs were “‘mere compilations of facts…arranged with minimum creativity…[and] are therefore not protectable’ by copyright law,” and that his transformation of Cariou photographs through his appropriation is protected under the doctrine of “fair-use.” The judge rejected Prince’s defense, refering to the Rogers v. Koons case: “If an infringement of copyrightable expression could be justified as fair use solely on the basis of the infringer’s claim to a higher or different artistic use . . . there would be no practicable boundary to the fair use defense.” Fair Use permits copyrighted works to be used without permission under certain provisions, in particular criticism, news reporting, teaching, scholarship, or research. Prince has been ordered by the court to destroy all the infringing works. To read more, go to the complete 
