Day, Sarah2012-06-262012-06-262012-04-18https://hdl.handle.net/11299/126311Mentor: Laura J. GurakInternet users fought back against the United States Congress on January 18, 2012. In an impressive display of protest, the leading Internet companies encouraged their users to contact their respective state’s Congressional representatives about the House of Representatives’ Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Senate’s Protest IP Act (PIPA). (SOPA, however, was the original piece of legislation and will consequently be the focus of this paper.) Through online petitions and website blackouts, millions of Americans were informed of the impending legislation and the threats companies like Google and Wikipedia believed it posed to the freedom of the Internet. The Internet protests against SOPA foreshadow the future of legislation on combating online foreign piracy; Congress will have to keep the free flow of information on the Internet as a top priority when considering how to address the problem.en-USCollege of Liberal ArtsPresentation