The International Bill That Threatens Online Privacy Essay -- U.S. Law

Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) were big bills recently in the EU and America that caught the attention of nearly every internet user. It was hard to not notice these two bills. These legislations would have pushed copyright infringement on many sites and much of the internet as it is known would have been shut down. On January 18, big sites such as Wikipedia, and Google blacked out their site for a day. This sent a loud and clear message to the creators of this bill and they put it on indefinite hold. While this was happening another bill decided to raise its ugly head. It had been lurking in the shadows of the other two bills and would prove to be a much more immense monster to face. Much like SOPA and PIPA, the Anti Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA), would restrict users of the internet exponentially, and there would be a large amount of unnecessary prosecution because of it. ACTA is an international bill that has some great potential , but lacks proper structure, therefore most of the internet, as it is known, will be shutdown or deemed illegal in many of the established countries around the world. The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (also known as ACTA), is an international bill that was kept secret since its creation in 2008. It eventually leaked onto the internet and caused an isolated outrage but not a very large one. Many internet users continued on with their daily lives unbeknownst to them that there was even such a thing as ACTA. While ACTA was being secretly conducted, two new bills, specific to the United States, called the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) caught the nation’s attention. There were rallies as much in flesh as... ...ice of the United States trade representative. United States Trade Representative, n.d. Web. 15 Mar 2012. "Anti-Illicit Trade Conference to Discuss Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement." Africa News Service 30 Sept. 2010. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 15 Mar. 2012. Clabough, Raven. "Obama Tries to Bypass Congress with Deadly Global Internet Treaty ACTA ." The New American. N.p., Friday, 27 January 2012 16:00 . Web. 15 Mar 2012. EFF, . "Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement." Electronic frontier foundation. Electronic Frontier Foundation, 2012. Web. 15 Mar 2012. "Europe's Internet revolt: protesters see threats in antipiracy treaty." Christian Science Monitor 11 Feb. 2012. Gale Opposing Viewpoints In Context. Web. 15 Mar. 2012. Kain, E. D.. "If you thought SOPA was bad, just wait until you meet ACTA." Forbes. N.p., 2012. Web. 15 Mar 2012.