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Albany, NY – One of the internet's most visited sites, Wikipedia, enacted a self-imposed 24-hour blackout in protest of two bills awaiting votes in congress.
The bills, House 3261, the Stop Piracy Act,' or SOPA, and Senate 968, the Protect IP Act,' or PIPA, are aimed at preventing the piracy of copyrighted materials online via foreign websites.
the bill would require domestic website owners and internet service providers to monitor content for copyrighted material and, according to the bills' detractors, including Wikipedia, would put websites that are linked to pirated content in jeopardy of being shut down through no fault of their own.
Joining us on this edition of Vox Pop to discuss these issues is Paul Rapp. Paul specializes in intellectual property law, including copyright, trademark, Internet, art and entertainment matters, and is an adjunct professor of copyright and art & entertainment law at the Albany Law School. WAMC's Alan Chartock hosts.