Again, it is loudly about the Internet. Seemingly it is as usual – the authority wants to introduce a law that in specific situations (most often not described accurately) restricts the freedom of action on the web. In this case, in the United States. And here lies the problem. The Americans do not care about politics, sex, violence or fascism, just about money. At least this time.

SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) is supposed to prevent the phenomena of mass copyright infringement on the Internet. To this bill you must add another one – PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act), which has been prepared by the American Senate. It is about a considerable number of 13% of Americans who watch pirated copies on the web. Calculate how much it is 13% of the billions generated by e.g. Hollywood. So, it is about a lot of money. They will not close anything; they will just forbid the U.S. companies to make ads and to co-finance websites that give access to illegal content. Finally, the State Department can block the entrance to those websites.

There are many details connected with this legislation but I foresee a major war: administration versus web, or rather the artistic and intellectual milieu versus site owners. And let’s not be happy about the fact that the thing is happening in the United States. U.S. and EU trade agreements will move the conflict on our territory.

This matter should be discusses in advance, jus as once in Poland we talked about pirated copies of computer programs. At a certain stage piracy served the digital civilisation. But this stage is slowly coming to an end. The piracy is becoming a barrier to the web development.