Behind SOPA: copyright, censorship and freedom of expressionIn early 2012, a series of coordinated protests took place online and offline against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) bill. ) which expands the ability of U.S. law enforcement to combat online copyright violations. As this protest involved many influential websites like Google and Wikipedia, it certainly brings national attention to SOPA. Whether censorship should be used online against online materials that violate property rights, as SOPA includes, is a controversial issue. Although SOPA was ultimately disbanded by Congress, the elements behind SOPA are sparking new debate. The relationship between censorship, free speech and copyright in this bill is worth discussing. In SOPA, copyright is enforced through censorship, but censorship at the same time violates freedom of expression. Although 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 gained public attention amid a wide range of protests when it was originally intended to help online businesses damaged by piracy. On January 18, 2012, websites like Google, Reddit, and Wikipedia were all taken down and attracted a lot of public attention. According to the announcement left on Wikipedia's website, they were protesting the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) which "has the potential to significantly change the way information can be shared via the Internet." » (Wikipedia, 1) SOPA is designed to tackle the problem of websites that offer illegal downloading of pirated movies, music and other products. For websites made up of user-uploaded content like Youtube and Facebook, they are responsible for all content on their website ... middle of 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 up to date with ideas from different points of view. A free community gives people the freedom to actively choose what they want rather than passively accepting what authorities think is good for them. And e-governance should serve people rather than undermine human rights like freedom of expression, no matter 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 online copyright violations, but cannot change the apparent ignorance of copyright rules among the public. Most importantly, freedom of expression is a fundamental human right that should not be compromised in any way..