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	Internet, a vital factor of the current international structure an article by Olea, M., Blanco K., Caballero M. Since the beginning of the Internet it has been a source for people to express their thoughts and feelings. It has become a platform in which people feel safe to share information, videos, files and pictures, to get to know people from around the world, learn about different cultures, different points of view and, gradually, making the world a more connected and informed place. Acta Protest click on photo to enlarge However, recent laws have been proposed such as SOPA and ACTA that threaten to remove this freedom from people. The way the governments have promoted these laws have made people feel that their right of freedom is being threatened. These laws have been counterproductive, though. Instead of being uninformed, people around the world have united against them and have been even more active, politically speaking, than before. In several German cities some 25,000 protesters took the streets, mostly in Munich. They were joined by 2,000 people in Vienna (Austria), 4,000 in Sofia (Bulgaria), 1500 in Prague, 1,500 in Tallinn, and 1,000 in Tartu (Estonia), and 1,000 in Paris. (Castillo, 2012) We basically owe the survival of the freedom of speech and the use of internet to the actions taken by the civil society organizations combined with massive mobilizations in social networks such as the Wikipedia blackout and the multiple trending topics in Twitter that inspired people to get informed about SOPA or ACTA, the social groups on Facebook, and the many internet sites, like AOL, Google Inc. ,including Youtube, Reddit and many more have protested against politicians in favor of these laws. Internet is an essential factor of the international structure. A proof of these is the Okupa’s movement in Wall Street, the “Indignados” movements in Spain and the “Arab Spring” couldn’t have been possible without Internet and the social network mobilizations. (This article is continued in the discussionboard - see righthand column of this page)		DISCUSSION There is no question yet associated with this article. * * * * * Latest reader comment: (The following is continued from the main article listed above.) Click here for another CPNN article on this subject.
This report was posted on February 22th, 2012.