Managed Hosting News 
Thursday, 26th January 2012, 11:54:31
Sopa 'is flawed and could damage online business'
The Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) being considered by the US government is not well thought out and could harm the web hosting industry significantly.
According to Matt Brian from The Next Web, the internet could be under threatfrom regulations that aim to prevent piracy but could disrupt business for many other online information providers.
"It is not really that well thought through. The act itself basically allows the legislators to restrict access to certain websites by modifying their DNS entries," he said on the Guardian's Tech Weekly podcast.
Mr Brian commented that if someone wanted to change a popular domain name such as guardian.co.uk, they would be able to alter the DNS setting and block the route to the domain name's IP address and ensure that an internet user never gets to the desired webpage.
"Basically you would be able to access that website, without having to know the website address. So there are parts of it that are quite fundamentally flawed," the expert added.
Presenter of the podcast Aleks Krotoski explained that the bill currently being debated by the US House of Representatives proposes a law that would allow the US government to blacklist websites. This could essentially lead to them being removed from search engines and "censored", he mentioned.
Some people have started creating plug-ins and extensions for browsers, mobile apps and other platforms that will overrule blockages if they are put in place, Mr Brian said.
The comments come in the wake of online encyclopaedia Wikipedia launching a 24-hour blackout of its website last week in protest at Sopa, which could pose a real threat to the nature of its self-editing enabled websites.
User-generated news site Reddit and the blog Boing Boing also took part in the English language site blackouts.
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales told the BBC that proponents of Sopa are characterising critics of the act as supporters of piracy and wrongdoing.
Posted by Phil Williams
Find out about High Availability, Highly Secure Managed Hosting Solutions from Hostway
Categories: | Web Host Industry |
Related Headlines:
25-01-2012: Web design and usability 'fundamental for business'
16-01-2012: Budget constraints and compliance issues 'must be overcome'
29-12-2011: 2012 will be the year of internet privacy, expert predicts
28-12-2011: Technology 'integral to business success'
23-12-2011: Websites growing in size, study finds
Previous Headlines:
25-01-2012: Web design and usability 'fundamental for business'
25-01-2012: Web design and usability 'fundamental for business'
25-01-2012: Web design and usability 'fundamental for business'
25-01-2012: Ecommerce merchants 'expect significant growth in 2012'
24-01-2012: SocialMagazine.com domain name for sale
Meet the News Team...
CALL: 0808 180 1880
or just email our Sales Team if you have any questions about any of Hostway’s services.
News Categories:
Read the latest headlines from these selected categories...
News Archives:
Previous headlines...
* All prices exclude VAT where applicable. All plans, packages and offers are subject to terms and conditions of sale available on the site.
© Hostway Corporation. All rights reserved.
A global web hosting leader, Hostway has strategic locations in the United States and Europe, including the Netherlands, Belgium, France, Romania and Germany, as well as Korea, India, and Australia.
