SOPA & PIPA

Patch 4.3.0

If you don't know what SOPA is by now, here's a very informative post on SOPA (and PIPA) from the official reddit blog: http://blog.reddit.com/2012/01/technical-examination-of-sopa-and.html.

As of now there is little I can personally do other than to make more people aware of the SOPA situation. So, I'm joining the internet protest with a "STOP CENSORSHIP" banner over my blog's header image. Depending on how things pan out, I may leave it there longer than the 24 hour "internet protest". For now, SOPA has been "shelved", but it doesn't mean that legislation can't and won't slip parts of SOPA into new bills up for vote, and PIPA (Protect IP Act) is still to-be-voted-for on January 24th. So, please click the "STOP CENSORSHIP" banner to sign the e-petition, send a letter to Congress, and if you're not in America you can even petition the state department in your country via the banner link (http://americancensorship.org/).

Without going into crazy detail, my personal stance on SOPA is this:

1. It won't stop movie and music piracy at all. [period] I honestly don't believe it will even slow it down in the slightest.
2. It's bad for business. Start-ups and e-businesses will have a dramatically more difficult time setting up any kind of website because of the need to prepare for potential offending links on forums for example, and they'll need to be careful on which sites they themselves advertise on.
3. The vague language in the actual bill is obviously vulnerable to be abused.

Let's hope that this internet protest will open more eyes to the SOPA situation and get our congressmen to KILL SOPA all together.