I don't get very politically engaged usually. I do have opinions, but I don't believe that they are the only valid ones, and I don't have the audacity to say that I know enough about most issues to claim that I have the solution for all problems.

But you don't need to know a lot to understand that SOPA is a really bad idea. It sounds like the setup for a dystopian novel of some sort. You can't end internet piracy by giving someone the authority to lock down sites. Just like that. Lock them down via the isp, without telling the owner of the site, or giving them a chance to explain themselves. No trial. Nothing. Just zip. 

I love the internet, and this is why I'm close to getting passionate about this issue. Freedom of speech. That's the thing that connects us all - we know it, we value it, and we think that if we don't have it, that's the beginning of the end of it all.

It's hard to really see through what this bill entails and what the potential outcome might be. 

For an overview, this article about the wikipedia blackout explains some stuff (I find the ending particularly noteworthy) and Our Champion Always, Cracked.com, has a great article, too.


To me, the Internet is a lot like open water. Yes, there are laws, obviously, but once you're out there, it doesn't matter where you originally came from. You can exchange information, trade with anyone who's on the same sea as you. Of course, when you're on open waters, there are pirates. And yes, although I haven't always followed every official rule online, I am very aware that in the long run, piracy, especially once it reaches an extreme extent, is bad for everyone. Of course it would be good if piracy could be stopped in a way that works for all of us. In a way, this is already happening: We don't want to wait until we can watch our TV shows if we missed an episode, so (as long as you're in the right country) you can watch them on the station's web page. You can record stuff on your TV and rewatch later, or even download it on demand. You can get your music instantly. And then there's that thing that Radiohead did, where you just paid any amount you found suitable for their new album. All this is the entertainment industry adapting to the changes that the internet has brought. In a while, I'll probably be able to watch English TV shows when they come out, as long as I'm willing to watch some ads with it, or something like that, and I'm looking forward to that day. 

Back to my original point. What is NOT the right way to deal with piracy is to send a Big Black Ship with Lots of Cannons out there, and give it the authority to sink any ship that ... potentially might have someone on board who might be a pirate. Especially not if the people in charge of that Big Black Ship are people in suits who think that really, all this sailing around in the water is dangerous and encourages rebellious thought, and everyone who enjoys it too much is a pirate.

And the real pirates meanwhile have switched to planes and u-boats, so they don't really care.


Imagine an internet where any site can just be shut down for content, or even only potential content. Essentially - imagine a censored internet.

I hate that thought.

During the Olympics in China, everyone was in uproar because the journalists couldn't access any web pages really and everyone was being censored. Well, this is exactly what's going to happen here. There will be a group of people who decide what is appropriate and what isn't, and I have a feeling that their definition won't really cover mine. And the problem is that once America does it, European countries might think that it's now okay for them, too. Because no one wants to follow in China's footsteps with that kind of thing, but America... well. 

It's just that... this is supposed to stop piracy. But it won't. They always find a way around these things, and the thing about online pirates is that they know their stuff. Legal grey areas and coding make lots of things possible for them - or even just moving to a different country. 

So it won't stop piracy. But it is a really powerful weapon that can just be turned on anyone. 


This is not a good thing.



EDIT:

By the way - you can still access wikipedia! They just want you to, at the same time, be aware of what's going on. This page gives info on how to avoid the blackout. It's easy enough. If you don't know how to disable your javascript, google the name of your browser and "disable javascript". It's usually in Preferences-> Security. Or you just go to en.m.wikipedia.org