This website, like so many others today, has “gone black” to one degree or another to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) bills being considered by congress.
These bills have been bought and paid for by the lobbying wing of the entertainment industry. They are ostensibly about combating people who are profiting from the piracy of copyrighted material, like music, movies, and TV shows. There are many, myself included, who think these bills will do little to achieve that goal, but they are certain to hurt of Internet security, innovation, and free speech.
Congressional supporters of the bills and the Whitehouse have started to recognize the power of public opinion against these bills, and may make concessions on their most odious aspects, but we need to keep pressing back, hard, because the supporters of these bills will keep pressing forward.
Bills like this threaten innovation and the diversity of opinions and viewpoints the Internet enables. Irregardless of their specific provisions, they create an environment that make it harder for small, independent players, like this blog, to exist. Doing so reduces competition faced, more established, players. It also reduces the challenges to established political parties.
I feel incredibly lucky to have grown up in the era of the personal computer, the Internet, and the limitless possibilities they afford. So much has changed in the past two decades, and I see room for decades more innovation and improvement in every aspect of our lives, but only if we can stop SOPA, PIPA, and similar attacks.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has provided tools for reaching your representatives.
For more perspectives: