SOPA and What You Can Do
Today you may have noticed that many website, including Boing Boing, Reddit, Wikipedia, and many more have gone dark in protest of SOPA, or The Stop Online Piracy Act. If you are unfamiliar with what the legislation is, take two minutes to watch this video produced by the Guardian:
Regardless where you stand in regardless to online piracy, this is not the solution. This is a fundamental threat to the very foundation of internet culture. In fact, because of the sites that I am linking to in this article, SOPA could shut down Bizarro Central just because of this one post. By including Youtube links, we would be guilty by association.
So what can you do to combat this threat?
- Write to your representative. The White House just announced their criticism to SOPA and that part of what influenced their opinion was a massive influx of criticism from voters. 2012 is going to be a big year for American elections. Don’t vote for anybody that supports regulating the internet.
- Don’t support the companies that support SOPA. Don’t give your money to Sony, Viacom, Marvel Comics, Wal-Mart or any other business that wants to tell you how you can and cannot use the internet. Click here for a list of the bastards.
- Give your money to independent artists. The supporters of SOPA are claiming that the internet is killing art and entertainment. Prove them wrong. Support the artists you like. Let them know you are supporting them. Once again, don’t give your money to people working with the SOPA supporting companies. And let them know why you aren’t giving them your money.
- Tell your friends about what is happening. This is the easiest and most effective action you can take. There are more of us that love freedom of expression than there are those that hate it.
We stand at a crossroad of internet culture. In the coming months, our online world could look very different. I don’t want to look back at this time as the golden age of the internet. I want us to keep progressing, keep connecting, and keep creating. There are many greedy business and small-minded people that wish to see this beautiful virtual culture squashed.
Don’t let them win.
Pingback: My Thoughts on SOPA and What You Can Do « Jeff Burk – Bizarro Author and Editor
Well written Jeff!
January 19, 2012 at 8:10 am
Art begets art.
First, they tell us what we can and cannot talk about or show.
Next, they will tell us that we can’t look at anything for inspiration for our own art.
Finally, they will tell us how we are to interpret the art that they, and they alone, sanction.
We don’t make enough money, we don’t lord ourselves over the planet enough. We need more.
Middle fingers of the world unite against SOPA and PIPA.
By the way, we should collectively call on everyone named Pipa to sue the US Congress for copyright infringement.
Anyone got Pipa Middleton’s number handy?
January 19, 2012 at 3:44 pm