Copyright Protection
Many laws that restrict freedom on the internet do so to protect the intellectual property of individuals. In the US, one is not allowed to steal the work of somebody else and claim that he or she is the creator. Websites that infringe on this law are often shut down or sent a cease and desist letter, and the original copyright owner can sue the owner of the website. Recently, the storage and download service Megaupload was taken down because there were so many files that infringed on others' copyrights. The Stop Online Piracy Act, a bill introduced in 2011, was proposed to try and tighten rules regarding online piracy and copyright infringement. This bill was met with extreme controversy due to the ways it dealt with copyright infringement, such as shutting down all websites that linked to another website that contained copyrighted material. The strong public backlash killed the bill, but companies like the Recording Industry Association of America and the Motion Picture Association of America will continue to try pushing these strong copyright protections.