Why SOPA and PIPA Must Be Stopped
The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is dangerous to the Internet.
It is also dangerous to all online businesses and anybody who voices an opinion on the Internet. I’m guessing that includes you.
Here’s a good video that explains what SOPA is all about (hat tip to Salty Droid):
Tens of thousands of people have already spoken out against SOPA.
But now there is a new threat: the Protect IP Act (PIPA).
PIPA is as bad or worse than SOPA.
As I write this, both bills are on the table. Whether one passes or both pass, it will have far-reaching negative impacts on the Internet.
Here are two good editorials about PIPA. I recommend you read both.
In the second article, Amanda Peyton describes what she discovered when she called Senator Schumer’s office (Charles Schumer is one of the co-sponsors of PIPA). She writes:
The first question I asked was “why does the Senator support this legislation?”
The guy on the other end of the phone said: “well, he’s a co-sponsor so he’s not changing his position.”
He must have known why I was calling.
Asked the same question again. This time the reply I got this time was different: “Senator Schumer is in favor of censoring the internet.”
This is the real issue. It is not about piracy. It is about censorship.
The stated reason for the bill is to stop piracy. This is because most people will be in favor of stopping piracy, so this is what is pitched to the public.
But the real reason for the bill is censorship… the ability to control what is said (or not said) on the Internet. Almost nobody in the U.S. will support censoring the Internet, which is why the real reason is kept secret.
I imagine some will find this duplicity surprising, but it’s “business as usual” in D.C.
Politicians do they same thing to drum up support for wars. They tell the public that Iraq has weapons of mass destruction; but what they really want is to preserve the status of the dollar as the world’s reserve currency.
Later the truth comes out that Iraq never had WMD. Of course, by then it is too late.
And so it goes.
If we don’t do our part to stop SOPA and PIPA now, the Internet will never be the same.
With that in mind, please share this post on Facebook and Twitter… and keep hounding your representatives. Thanks.
-Ryan M. Healy