Behind SOPA: Copyright, Censorship and Free SpeechA series of coordinated online and offline protests occurred in early 2012 against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) bill, which expands U.S. law enforcement's ability to combat online copyright infringement. Since this protest involved many influential websites such as Google and Wikipedia, it definitely brings national attention to SOPA. The controversial issue is whether censorship should be used online against online materials that infringe property rights, as included in SOPA. Although SOPA was eventually disbanded by Congress, the facts behind SOPA provoke further debate. It is worth discussing the relationship between censorship, free speech and copyright in this bill. In SOPA, copyrights are enforced through censorship, but at the same time censorship violates free speech. While SOPA's online censorship of unauthorized online material is an effective method of protecting copyright on the Internet, it resists innovation and undermines free speech. SOPA has attracted public attention from a wide range of protests although it was originally aimed at helping online businesses harmed by piracy. On January 18, 2012, websites like Google, Reddit, Wikipedia were all taken down and attracted great attention from the public. According to the announcement left on the Wikipedia website, they were protesting the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) which "has the potential to significantly change the way information can be shared across the Internet." (Wikipedia, 1) SOPA is designed to address the problem of websites providing illegal downloads of pirated movies, music, and other products. Since websites are made up of user-uploaded materials like Youtube and Facebook, they are responsible for all the material on their website... half paper... condemned or punished. Everyone has the right to express their point of view. Free speech has provided the online community with abundant resources that broaden viewers' horizons and keep people updated on ideas from different perspectives. A free community gives people the freedom to actively choose what they want instead of passively accepting what authority believes is good for them. And online governance should serve people rather than abuse human rights like free speech, regardless of what they are trying to protect. Online copyright infringement is a very serious problem, but censorship is not the solution. Online censorship in SOPA may decrease the number of copyright violations online but cannot change the apparent ignorance of copyright rules among the public. More importantly, freedom of speech is a fundamental human right that should not be compromised under any circumstances.