PIRACY. IT’S an emotive word which, when applied to Somalian fishermen or suburban teenagers downloading free music has very different implications. Sponsors of the Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) in the US Congress chose the word to reflect the seriousness with which they view the illegal sharing of copyrighted material such as films and music. But Sopa became a rallying cry this week for those who felt it threatened the very freedom and openness that is at the core of the web’s architecture and success.

The politicisation of the Facebook generation this week is a welcome development. Rather than simply sounding off on their social network of choice, four million people used Wikipedia to look up contact information for their local political representatives.

Thousands of telephone calls were made to senators and congressmen, flooding switchboards and other communications channels in Washington, on Wednesday’s internet day of protest.

Hollywood claims its actions are aimed at offshore pirates which make copyrighted material available at the click of a mouse. Gangs in Asia and Eastern Europe are not providing the latest movies, albums and software as a public service. Some of their activities are supported by displaying advertising to the thousands who flock to their sites. It is directly within the power of Google, as the biggest online advertising firm, and Paypal, as the de facto online payment processor, and other firms to turn this off.

There is a naive view that as a new medium, and in particular one that has associated itself with democracy and free speech, the Internet should not be subject to any regulation or centralised control. Another view holds that precisely because it is so disruptive to traditional power structures, the Internet needs extraordinary powers – such as those proposed by Sopa – to keep it under control.

These issues will have to be resolved in our courts and legislature this year. Irish record companies want laws that would enable them to block access to websites illegally sharing their copyrighted material.

Eircom begins a High Court action next week to challenge the decision by the Data Protection Commissioner that the three strikes system it operates with the music industry – cutting off the broadband of persistent file sharers – breaches Irish data privacy laws.

Sopa now seems doomed but the problems it sought to address remain. The wealth that once flowed to Hollywood studios, record labels and others who controlled the means of creative production is now being amassed by the giants of Silicon Valley such as Google, Facebook and Amazon.

The future careers of musicians, actors, designers – and journalists – who need to make a living out of content that is freely shared on the internet depend on the two sides of the Sopa debate finding a workable middle ground.

Such a solution is unlikely to be found in the courts.