We've survived yesterday's Wikipedia blackout but how many of you
know what was behind it? The blackout might be over but the cause is
still lurking behind the shadows. That cause is two bills which are going
before congress, the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the
Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). SOPA's targets are "rogue" foreign sites like The
Pirate Bay, which are hubs for illegal downloads. Although the general public
is not the target here, it affects all of us. Essentially, SOPA/PIPA is all about revenge. The record labels and movie studios can't attack overseas pirates so they go after the internet instead...and we're all caught in the war. Can you imagine your life without
another torrent? What about the use of censored searches to stop these sites?
What else do you think they'll censor?
I've actually read the bill which
can be found here but
to save you some time, you can watch the video below to get a better idea of
what SOPA/PIPA really is and how it could affect you.
Once you've learnt the facts, make sure you sign
the petition at https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/ so
that Congress will say no to SOPA/PIPA.
