You might have heard the words SOPA and PIPA around. The bills Stop Online Piracy Act ("SOPA") and its little sister Protect IP Act ("PIPA") are bills aiming to protect copyright and stop piracy. Those of you who have not heard of these two might think so what?
Well let me explain without boring you to death (as legal issues might be boring for those who don't have it as a job). SOPA and PIPA foresee that any material shared on the web which does not belong to those who share it are an infringement of copyright. Accordingly, those who share such materials (you, me, everybody) will be penalized in the U.S. You might think it has nothing to do with your country if you're not from the US, but the explanation might have you thinking again.
The best websites of our generation are Youtube, Tumblr, Wikipedia, Twitter and Google (etc.) right? Yes. However, according to SOPA and PIPA bills, these websites are infringing copyright. They will not ban these websites don't get me wrong, but as sharing will be illegal, the websites will not be used. So, it's just as if they ban them.
These are very very small repercussions of SOPA and PIPA. If you want to learn more, go to
Wikipedia and you will see that the bills are idiotic and should NOT BE PASSED.