Stop SOPA!

In the past, those of us in the United States, looked at countries like China or Egypt and laughed maniacally at the thought of such censorship. Now, the US is facing a horrible problem of online censorship dictated by the United States government, on January 24th the US Congress will vote whether to pass the “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA, for short). If passed, this will effect you in a variety of ways. Popular websites such as Facebook, YouTube, and other social media websites, will be under constant scrutiny of the government. Said government will be keeping a keen eye out for copyrighted material. For example, if I were to post a YouTube video of me doing a dance video to music (not saying I would), and if, by happenstance the music in the aforementioned video was copyrighted, two of three possible outcomes could occur. One, I could face five years in jail, and two, YouTube could be taken down for a temporary duration. Today, as you may have noticed various websites all across the internet have been protesting this act (list below). Those outside of the United States may feel safe and sound; however, consider this, our universally beloved YouTube could be taken down at the whim of the US government, all because a five year old posted a cat video with Justin Beiber playing in the background.

What can you do? Well, I’m glad you asked! You can contact your congress-person and tell them you want this madness stopped (Click Here!)! They consider everyone’s opinion when they vote on the 24th. You can also sign Google’s petition (Click here!).

Watch the Anti-SOPA video:

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

List of websites protesting SOPA:

• Google
• Wikipedia
• GizmoRay (Click here!)

Thanks for reading!