Yesterday, I made this site redirect to SOPA Strike in opposition of SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act). I am vehemently opposed to such draconian, broad bills such as these.
If you don't know, SOPA and PIPA aim to shut down sites that are infringing upon American intellectual property such as music, movies, photos, and books.
That idea is sound, but the methods and language that the bills use are morally and ethically wrong. Sites that are found to be infringed by industry organizations (like the RIAA and MPAA) can be shut down without due process or chance for an appeal. The DMCA (Digital Millennium Copyright Act) handles this by providing "safe harbor" to social networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. But under SOPA or PIPA, these sites would be gone from the Internet.
These bills allow the United States to assert control over all domestically registered domains (.com, .net, .org, et cetera). Any international site that infringes upon U.S. intellectual property can be shut down entirely, even though the site is out of U.S. jurisdiction.
Both bills are overly wide, not only targeting sites that have infringing content, but other legitimate businesses. Google and other search engines have to meticulously comb their own sites and remove anything that would be remotely close to infringing upon intellectual property. Twitter and Facebook would have to censor their own users so that they do not get in trouble with the government.
Companies that are in support of SOPA/PIPA are, well, assholes. The RIAA (Recording Industry Association of America) and the MPAA (Motion Picture Association of America), two historically draconian companies, have loads of money to lobby for these bills. Comcast and other Internet providers are for the bills as well (ironically, Comcast just upgraded their network to use technology that would make it impossible for them to implement SOPA/PIPA).
While the Senate and House are widely in support of these bills, mainly because of lobbyists and their money, the general population is largely against them. At my school in particular, my history teacher took a large amount of class time to talk about how this threatens the Internet as we know it. Because of the Wikipedia blackout, the school is a-buzz with anti-SOPA conversation, and posters have appeared urging students to call our representatives and senators (unfortunately, all of our representatives are co-sponsors here in Connecticut, so there isn't much chance of having them change their minds).
All in all, SOPA and PIPA threaten American free speech and the freedom of the Internet as we know it. It would allow the government and corporate interest groups to censor the Internet as they please, putting us on a similar level as China and Iran. If you can, express your opposition on social networking sites or even call your representatives. Help stop this bill from becoming a horrible, draconian law.