On January 18th, popular websites such as Wikipedia and Reddit went dark in protest of two proposed bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA).
While copyright protection and the fight against piracy are certainly meritable things, SOPA and PIPA are absolutely the wrong way to go about it. With just a sliver of suspicion of possibly illegal acts by even one user of a website, these bills would give the government the right to essentially shut down entire websites. Things like Wikipedia, YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, and even search engines like Google would be eliminated. These sites provide a wealth of information and provide a theater for free speech.
Below is a video by Sal Khan, the head of the fantastic instructional website Khan Academy, outlining the basics of these bills and the details of the threats to the freedom and liberty of the people of the United States. Sal does a great job at explaining the situation, so please watch the video to learn why SOPA and PIPA need to be stopped.
No comments:
Post a Comment