I hope you don’t plan on using the Internet today because you’re going to have a hard time getting anywhere. Several websites are going dark in protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act (or better known as SOPA), and the buzz says there are more to come.
The list includes Wikipedia, Reddit, Imgur, TwitPic, icanhasCheezburger Network and WordPress.org. Dare I say it, but Facebook and Twitter are rumored to go black, too.
For those of you who don’t know, SOPA is a House bill that would protect online trafficking and copyright websites’ intellectual property. Sounds nice, right? A bill that is going to protect entrepreneurship and innovation. With our current economy and increasing globalization, now, more than ever, the U.S. needs to protect its intelligence and innovation. But if you dig deeper into the bill, you’ll learn there is a lot more to it.
SOPA is similar to the Internet censorship China uses, putting a large amount of censorship on websites we use daily.
Almost anything we upload to sites like Vimeo, Facebook, Esty or any of the ones mentioned above (and many more) is liable for copyright and to go through Internet censorship. Most importantly to us, it will take a big hit on social media. So if a site allows us to upload to it, it is liable for infringement. There will be no more adding videos of your roommate belting out Lady Gaga, no more Facebook creeping on your ex-best friend and no more Google searching where you’ll be going for spring break if SOPA is passed.
I really encourage you to do your own research on the matter; you can learn a lot more than I am able to tell you in a few hundred words. But, the fact of the matter is SOPA is wrong and unconstitutional. This is a lose-lose situation for us. Websites are punished for facilitating it, and we’ll be in trouble for uploading and posting it. It stifles innovators and the only social networks we frequently interact with.
The bill is apparently supposed to protect innovation in our country from online piracy. But that’s just what it sounds like it’s doing. It’s the government giving them the power to constantly scrutinize and monitor what we put on the Internet and social networks.
America is known for its ingenuity and revolutions, and SOPA will outlaw that. Entrepreneurs and startups will struggle even more against corporations that already dominate our economy. The bill will make Internet censorship the new norm. If you care about your freedom of speech, you won’t support SOPA.
Luckily, we’re not alone. President Barack Obama also said he would not support the bill. Add him to the list of websites, companies and other American citizens, and we have a pretty good collection of powerful people against the bill. But, that may not be enough. We’ll need your support, too.
And if I haven’t convinced you that SOPA is a flat out breach of our freedom, imagine sitting down and doing a cram session with Wikipedia for that research paper you have due tomorrow. It won’t happen.
Cori Sherman is the Associate Editor at The Post and a senior studying journalism. If you stand against SOPA too, email her at cs182407@ohiou.edu.
