The editorial mistakes the opposition to SOPA and PIPA. It is not driven by Internet-centric companies, at least at heart. There have been numerous critiques from academics and from groups that care about a free and open internet (as opposed to the rent-seeking media companies on the one side and the internet centric companies that object to being conscripted as private cops for the media companies). These proposed bills would authorize censorship without prior hearing. It is no comfort at all that the agent of this censorship would be the DOJ: they are just as capable of lazy and arbitrary decision making as the rest of us, which is why a prior judicial hearing is necessary before any citizen is deprived of important rights. Apparently the Globe is blind to this consideration when its ox is doing the goring rather than being gored.

The author is correct with respect to sharing data on the Internet. The only way to stop it is to shut down the Internet. Content providers and holders of copyrighted material simply have to come up with a different business model.

Khan Academy explanation of the problems with SOPA and PIPA: http://www.khanacademy.org/video/sopa-and-pipa?playlist=American+Civics

Oops! I hope Khan Academy didn't steal their explanation, because if they did, my posting its URL in the previous message is causing the Globe to enable Khan Academy's copyright violation, which means the BostonGlobe.com would be "an internet site dedicated to the theft of US property" under SOPA. Sorry! My bad!

Careful, Globe. If "Anonymous" finds out that you're chastising Internet companies for initiating what you believe are self-serving protests, they might "complicate" your website(s).