SOPA, PIPA, and internet striking
Okay you guys, so there are these bills in the US congress right now, the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act which are filling me with rage-y, political feelings. So many other sites and people have explained it in much better detail than I ever could(even in infographic form!), so I won't spend too much time on that. The important thing to realize is that these bills, if passed, could theoretically give the American government free license to block any US-based website that can potentially host copyrighted material. Let that sink in for a second. This allows the government to "blacklist" an ENTIRE FUCKING WEBSITE if it finds enough users/instances of possibly copyrighted material. Immediately, this will effect sites like megaupload, mediafire, youtube, wikipedia, tumblr, livejournal, ANY WEBSITE THAT COULD POTENTIALLY HOST COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL, YOU GUYS.
This is just. There's no way those stuffy old congress people realize how far reaching this bill has the potential to be. You block a site like youtube and you not only stop the spread of "plagiarism," you stop the spread of ideas around the world, you choke off communication and thinking, you put an end to the world as we know it's become and how we know it should evolve towards becoming. International Telecommunication Union Secretary General Hamadoun Touré says that the right to communicate is a basic civil liberty, and just, wow, there's not a better way to put it. Communication is what starts revolutions, it's what gets us thinking and seeing the world, and this is just a complete and utter violation of that.
This is about censorship. This is about freedom of speech. And it's not just about this happening and staying in America. Go to wikipedia today; you'll find the page blacked-out in protests of this bill. Better yet, SEND A MESSAGE TO YOUR REPRESENTATIVE and let them know this is not okay. This bill was written by people who pretty much don't know how to use the internet, and it's being supported by capitalist big businesses (the music industry, hollywood, and okay yes they have reason, piracy is a problem, but this is so far from a solution it's not even feasible).
This is just. There's no way those stuffy old congress people realize how far reaching this bill has the potential to be. You block a site like youtube and you not only stop the spread of "plagiarism," you stop the spread of ideas around the world, you choke off communication and thinking, you put an end to the world as we know it's become and how we know it should evolve towards becoming. International Telecommunication Union Secretary General Hamadoun Touré says that the right to communicate is a basic civil liberty, and just, wow, there's not a better way to put it. Communication is what starts revolutions, it's what gets us thinking and seeing the world, and this is just a complete and utter violation of that.
This is about censorship. This is about freedom of speech. And it's not just about this happening and staying in America. Go to wikipedia today; you'll find the page blacked-out in protests of this bill. Better yet, SEND A MESSAGE TO YOUR REPRESENTATIVE and let them know this is not okay. This bill was written by people who pretty much don't know how to use the internet, and it's being supported by capitalist big businesses (the music industry, hollywood, and okay yes they have reason, piracy is a problem, but this is so far from a solution it's not even feasible).