Tuesday, January 17, 2012

SOPA/PIPA Blackout


I’m joining websites like Wikipedia, Google, Reddit, Raw Story, Facebook, LinkedIn, Paypal, Boing Boing and Twitter and groups like the American Civil Liberties Union and Human Rights Watch in opposing bad legislation advancing in Washington: the “Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA),” also known as H.R. 3261, introduced by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX), chair of the House Judiciary Committee.

Some of these sites are participating in a web blackout on Wednesday, January 18, to highlight the issue. (Watch for Google to use its home page to express its dislike of the legislation.)

SOPA – which is supposed to curb online piracy of movies, music, video games and other content – violates the First Amendment. By giving copyright holders and federal law enforcement too much power to shut off access to foreign websites, the proposal threatens freedom of speech, innovation and the very integrity of the Internet.

Although President Obama has publicly stated he opposes the bills, progressives have learned to take his declarations with a grain of salt. (I’ve got an entire container of Morton’s with POTUS’ name on it.) Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) plans to bring the Senate’s version, S. 968 (the “Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011” or PROTECT IP or PIPA – who makes this sh*t up?), to a vote on January 24, and Representative Smith said Tuesday that his committee will consider SOPA in February.

I oppose piracy and copyright theft. But SOPA and PIPA are written to allow corporations to work with our government to blacklist sites and searches that can harm their potential income. It’s censorship, plain and simple, and it’s wrong.

Want more information? Click here for a good article on why SOPA is such a big deal, courtesy of Mike Masnick at Techdirt.com.

See you Thursday.

Designed by Chris Farina

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