Please support an open internet by protesting SOPA & PIPA
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 2:05AM It's begun: today is the designated day when many sites will "black out" in protest to SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) & PIPA (Protect IP Act). They come from noble intentions: to stop online piracy, but the current wording of these two bills are incredibly dangerous and would be a huge threat to the freedom of the internet, should they pass (there is an alternative act: the OPEN Act (Online Protection and Enforcemen of Digital Trade Act), which still tries to stop online piracy, but does not sacrifice the openness of the internet to do so).
Wikipedia and Reddit are probably the biggest sites to blackout today, with Wikipedia having already started, and running for a full 24 hours, and Reddit blacking out for 12 hours.
If you haven't been following this, and/or have no idea as to what SOPA and PIPA are, you can read an explanation on Reddit and Wikipedia. You can also read about the OPEN act here.
As a person who enjoys exploring the internet, reading little blogs like mine, it's important that we don't allow bills like these, which were written with little technical and expert input, to pass. We cannot allow ourselves to be put in a position of fear over legal action because we want to express ourselves. We cannot allow a government-regulated internet, especially to this level, to be (it hasn't really worked for other countries either). Contact your local representative, and (respectfully) show them that the people they represent do not support these bills.