Yesterday, UWICLUBS.com went black. This is in response to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) currently being debated in the US.
Online giants such as Google and Wikipedia are up in arms over the legislation and have begun a worldwide web protest against it. Today, the English section of Wikipedia is black. Other popular sites have also opted to “blackout” in protest.
The movement has also made its way to Trinidad and Tobago.
UWICLUBS.com has decided to join the big guns in their quest to stop SOPA and PIPA. Creative director, Aneil Lutchman, shares his thoughts with CampusPride.
Q&A with Aneil Lutchman, Creative Director, UWICLUBS.com
Q: You’re probably one of the first sites in the world to begin the internet blackout protest in response to SOPA and PIPA. As the creative director of UWICLUBS.com, can you comment on your thoughts about the controversial legislation and why you felt it was necessary to include your site in the cause?
A: It isn’t so much to increase awareness because I think the big sites like Google and Wikipedia have that covered. I wanted to support the protest in any way I could because sites like UWICLUBS.com stand to suffer from SOPA. One more thing. Another reason i wanted to black out my site is to highlight the lack of action by groups like the (UWI) Guild of Students who can’t seem to see further than Jamaica.
Q: Can you give an example to those who may not understand how UWICLUBS 
will be affected by SOPA?
A: UWICLUBS wouldn’t be affected yet because we’re not in the US. In any case we don’t reproduce copyrighted material. But any laws that attack freedom of speech would eventually affect us if a big, well-funded institution was to have an issue with something published on the site.
Q: Michael O’Leary called everything Google et al are doing as a “cute gimmick” and urges them to come forward with solutions rather than embark on this blackout protest which doesn’t address “the underlying issue”. Comment?
A: I think he has a point…but the simplest solution that I see is to not rush to get the law passed and get more input from stakeholders so that the laws could be more refined, or search engines could modify their algorithms to reduce piracy.
Read more about the “blackout” here
Also, check out UWICLUBS.com – an online newsletter and database for clubs, societies and associations within UWI.
CampusPride! 
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