Today is the day to voice your opposition to the controversial anti-piracy bills SOPA and PIPA. Many major sites are voicing their opposition to the bills. 
From Google: “Two bills before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business. Millions of Internet users and entrepreneurs already oppose SOPA and PIPA.” This is from a landing page accessed through Google’s home page image, which features a black censorship box. Other sites like Reddit, Imgur, WordPress and Wikipedia are taking it a step further and are dedicating their entire sites to the cause for the day.
A great explanation of the SOPA and PIPA controversy come from CNNMoney, a Time Warner subsidiary and SOPA supporter:
The bill’s supporters dismiss accusations of censorship, saying that the legislation is meant to revamp a broken system that doesn’t adequately prevent criminal behavior.
But SOPA’s critics say the bill’s backers don’t understand the Internet’s architecture, and therefore don’t appreciate the implications of the legislation they’re considering.
The bills are about protecting content, mostly from oversees sites. From the CNNMoney article:
Both sides say they agree that protecting content is a worthy goal. But opponents say that the way SOPA is written effectively promotes censorship and is rife with the potential for unintended consequences.
“Imagine a world without free knowledge,” Wikipedia asks us. According to social news giant Reddit, “These bills provide overly broad mechanisms for enforcement of copyright which would restrict innovation and threaten the existence of websites with user-submitted content, such as reddit.” From photo sharing site Imgur: “The internet is on strike.” Hundred of additional sites are participating in the protests with blackouts including giants, Mozilla, Boing Boing, WordPress and Major League Gaming.
Reaction is obviously strong. Supporters see it as money being stolen from their pockets. Opposers are considering the effect these bills may have on our future. Are we creating a world where information is governed? The priority here seems to benefit a few giant companies at the expense free internet for the rest of us.
We invite you to read more on these bills and others by following these links.
