On Today, parts
of the Internet are going dark to protest the SOPA(Stop Online Privacy Act) and
the PIPA Acts. Wikipedia will be going completely dark for the United States
version of the website and Google has blacked out its logo, in symbolism about
what may happen should these acts pass. Do not be blinded by the noble mask
that these acts might be wearing. These acts will give the United States
government pure dictatorial control over the Internet and will make us no
better than those countries that we tend to look down upon for their lack of
freedoms.
Internet-The
Last Free Voice Threatened
Many horrific laws that destabilize
the freedom of people often do go into effect under the noble guise of helping
people. Online piracy is an issue that everyone will admit might be a concern.
However, instead of figuring out a way to beat the pirates at their own game,
the entertainment industry remains stuck in their own ways, unable to figure
out a way to advance forward in a world that has become digital. Once before,
they had tried to block advancement, trying to stop the VCR from being
widespread.
They failed at that, just as SOPA
must fail. Those who back this law are both ignorant about the damage they will
cause to the United States and in some cases, rather hypocritical. The short
term result of putting a chain on Internet piracy will be nothing compared to
the revenue that has been lost.
How many DVD sales have been made
because of someone making a forbidden download of a television episode or a
movie from a website? Or an unauthorized fan drawing? Or any number of things
that this act will make harder to do should it be fulfilled? More than the entertainment
industry wants you to think.
Then there will be some who
should this act get passed who will refuse to spend one more dime on your
entertainment because you had played no small part in censoring the Internet.
Would the entertainment industry
also not put out substandard, overpriced content that partially enabled the
piracy problem in the first place if these acts are passed? Somehow, I doubt
it.
The United States government does
have a small stake in this. The Internet is the one place where they do not
have a tight grip, to selectively filter what news gets posted and what
opinions get posted. Let us not lie, they have long since wished for a way to
shut certain negative opinions up but they cannot do it.
SOPA and PIPA are on shakier
ground than they were a couple of months back, but we need to keep striking
hard. If an Internet giant like Google is protesting these acts, you know that something
is rather faulty about it. The act might start with piracy, but it will
slippery slide downwards into other areas, as if you give this government an
inch
Write to your Congress people if
you live in the United States. Hopefully you will not get back a generic form
letter. We cannot rest until these acts are completely blown off the table,
never to return. Wikipedia has gone completely black and Google has gone
partially black.
In the end, SOPA and PIPA will
fail and it will cause a horrific rip in an already muddled American economy if
they go through. They will censor us in many ways. It has been compared to what
China is doing as many and should these law get passed, it will be the final
straw of any credibility that the United States has when parroting the concept
of “freedom”.
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