There's a lot of hubbub about SOPA and PIPA today. Being one who needs to find things out for myself, I started Googling.
And while the intentions of the bills make sense, the overall ripple effect of these bills does not.
I don't run a business online, let alone run one that supports or distributes pirated material so why should I be worried about how this would affect me? If you blog, pay attention to what I've found here about the topics of how this will affect blogs in general. As of now, domains ending in .com or .org are not being targeted, but if these bills are passed it only opens up a door that could eventually lead to more censorship of the internet in whole.
Also, there's no due process involved. If there is a complaint against a website it will be blocked. No proof needed, right now, as the bill stands. Did you do a book review or a movie review on your blog? What if somebody reported that as copyright infringement? You, my blogging friend, could be done. What if someone posts a link in a comment thread? Copyright infringement on your blog.
I'm still learning a lot about these bills. Frankly, I love my blog and I don't want anything to happen to it simply because one of the videos I embedded from YouTube struck a copyright nerve with someone.
I do understand that piracy undermines hard work of a lot of people. It supposedly threatens jobs, and sure, I'll give it that doing something to stop that wouldn't be a bad thing. But these bills, in my still uneducated opinion, are not the way to do it.
A lot of websites are blacking out today (hmmmm, if I mention them I might be making a copyright infringement...) and you can check out the info on the SOPA blackout here. The point of the black outs today is to contact Congress and let them know that even if we support a bill to stop piracy, this isn't the one.
There is too much censorship and no due process involved at this point. I really don't think this is a direction we want to go in. This article is a good one on how these bills can affect you. Me. Us. The normal "every day" people. And he has some good links in it, as well as pros and cons, groups for and against. If you're interested.
I suppose we all need to make up our own minds on this, and I hope that we all take a few minutes to try and educate ourselves and not just get pulled into the frenzy of it. But from what I've read so far this morning, I think more work needs to be done on this before it goes through.
Write Congress now. And while you're at it, sign this petition.

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