SOPA. PIPA. ACTA.

The Stop Online Piracy Act, Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act and the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement are recent lawful attempts to strike back hard against piracy mainly. I'd like to think that the 3 represent the virtual versions of the Axis powers, because there is much more involved than meets the eye here, namely the freedom of the internet.

While copyrights and trademarks remain the de facto argument against stopping piracy online, some of these profits obtained from these sources seem to have shifted from consuming the actual products at retail stores towards more recent ways of acquiring them, such as concerts, theaters and exhibitions over the recent years.

I have opposed as well as supported these illegal ways of getting these kinds of products in the past, and even now, especially during these changing times, I wonder what would be the right thing. Of course, getting the latest songs, movies, games, software and more through different ways other than purchasing is wonderful for yourself and your relatives, but at the same time, I definitely understand some of those companies' complaints. Money talks.

That's why there are proponents and opponents coming up with their issues and arguments. And although it's an expensive life to live out in the rich countries for the middle and lower classes, it's really tempting to lower the budgets as much as possible and scout the internet for free content.

Although I do not know the exact differences between these three proposing laws, they do have a mutual act of punishing suspected illegal websites, protect copyright holders and next to that, the U.S. property. They have the potential power to shut down whole sites, even as gigantic as YouTube or Facebook, simply because of users generating content, and then intentional or not linking towards infringements. I know it sounds crazy, but based of what I have seen and heard about, this seems to be the case.

To me, that drastic, extreme way of combating piracy and theft is a scary thought. Thankfully, at least the White House had something relieving to say: "Any effort to combat online piracy must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity and must not inhibit innovation by our dynamic businesses large and small. We must avoid creating new cybersecurity risks or disrupting the underlying architecture of the internet."

But right now, none of them have been effective so far. And discussions will continue on this huge topic. Let's hope that the proposers will adjust to these concerns of opposing people and that the collateral damage won't be severe.