(no subject)
I was meant to be uploading a pair of fanmixes today, and instead it's universal black out day, I think.
I've been aware of the ruckus caused by the US SOPA and PIPA for a while, but only today did I realise what a threat it was. I sat down, ignored my work, and actually took a look at what's going on. SOPA stands for the Stop Online Piracy Act, and PIPA stands for the Protect IP Act. It's serious, because the idea that your entire website (that is, THE WHOLE OF LJ) because you have an icon of Harry Potter's logo or something else that's copyrighted, is almost too big to comprehend.
LJ is important to me. It's a community where I meet people and with whom I share my stories. Who share their stories with me. I'm not just talking about fanfiction here, though. I'm talking about real life problems. Problems I'd thought would be put down as insanity before I realised I wasn't the only one with them. LJ is a support group, for gods' sake. An online therapy group. When I'm upset, or down, or tired, LJ is the first place I come. I'm free to express myself, and develop my writing and be helped and help others as well.
It's too important to express, coherently.
And it's too devastating to express what it feels like to think that I might one day soon, not have this. And it's infuriating. I'm so angry I can't even think of the right word for it. Because kicking us off the internet (and that is what it is; if we can't write/draw/read/talk online, we're not going to be on the internet much) is wrong. We've built lives here. I've got friends whose names and email addresses I don't know. If I lose LJ, I lose them. Can you even imagine life without LJ, FFNet, AO3, ONTD, WIKIPEDIA. Good god, even WIKIPEDIA would go down. Everything. Gone.
The internet would be barren.
And that's kinda why I support the black out scheme. I'll so go for a blackout for as long as it takes. It'll hurt, yes. But it's necessary. To show the world what the internet would be like, if every website that had a link to someone who'd infringed copyrights was shut down.
God.
I haven't been this worried in a long, long, time.
I hope nothing comes of it.
I hope the US Parliament sees that this is not the right way.
So, if anyone reads this, just go to http://americancensorship.org/ and just sign the petition against SOPA/PIPA. Even if you're not in the US, scroll down and there's a petition you can sign. *crosses fingers* Here's hoping we still have an LJ to comment on eventually...