In the past couple days, the media has finally started to give some attention to SOPA and PIPA. Today news broke the Wikipedia, reddit, Mozilla, and several other sites will be going dark for a 24 hour period beginning at 12 am January 18th in order to protest the pending legislation.
For those of you who may not have the time to read about SOPA and PIPA, let me give you my opinion. If passed, these laws could be very dangerous to the ways we as a society use the web. I agree content should be protected under copyright, but I also believe that access to the internet, and using it’s platforms to promote new ideas and social justice is one of the most powerful tools we have today. There are better ways to protect content and creativity that will not lead to censorship.
Via Realisingdesigns.com
Still not convinced? Let me speak in terms that may better resonate with your heart.
If SOPA passed, you could lose your precious LOLcats if the government thought that any of those images or videos were being used without permission.
You could lose the ability to search Youtube for amazing videos like this.
Collaboration and re-purposing of content on the internet can be amazing forms of art. Why take that away?
Finally, I think we all agree, the world needs more cowbell, and not less Walken.
More than Fancy Dress 