Looks like LOLA (London Ontario Live Arts), the arts festival known for hugely impacting Londno's local arts and culture scene, has joined the "blackout" protests happening online today. LOLAFest.com is one among a myriad of websites and services, including BoingBoing and Google, which are going dark or participating in others ways today in protest of SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (PROTECT IP Act) which is making its rounds through the US House of Representatives and Congress. Participants in the blackout say that PIPA and SOPA both endanger civil liberties online as well as the open source movement.
PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet
You might wonder why Canadians are participating in the protest? Canada Research Chair of Internet and E-commerce Law at the University of Ottawa, Michael Giest, answers that very question on his website today:
Today this site joins thousands of websites in going dark to protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act. While SOPA is proposed U.S. legislation, it has implications for all Canadians, including provisions that treat all Canadian IP addresses as if they were subject to U.S. jurisdiction.
Moreover, Canada faces the same relentless copyright lobbying campaign. From the much-criticized digital lock rules found in Bill C-11 to the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement to the proposal to extend the term of copyright protection in the Trans Pacific Partnership, Canadian copyright policy is increasingly shaped by the same groups promoting SOPA.
To particpate in the strike against SOPA head over to sopastrike.com.
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