Who Really Stopped SOPA, and Why?
David Moon, Patrick Ruffini and David Segal, editors, Hacking Politics (OR Books 2013)
8 Pages Posted: 30 Aug 2016
Date Written: May 1, 2013
Abstract
In late 2011, Internet activists rewrote the rules of Washington, blocking passage of industry-written copyright bills that threatened the continued health of the Open Internet. How and why did they do it, and what impact did their unorthodox campaign have on the future of efforts by Washington to regulate the Internet and its users? This essay, written by one of the activists involved, praised the effort while warning of the danger of "bitroots" lobbying to become, as it has in the years since, mob behavior.
Keywords: SOPA, PIPA, copyright, Internet, MPAA, lobbying, regulation
JEL Classification: D40, K23, L14, L22, L43, L51, L86, L96, O33
Suggested Citation: Suggested Citation