SOPA + PIPA: Seek and Destroy

If you have internet access, but have somehow managed to escape hearing about SOPA and PIPA, you aren't doing it right! The internet is an amazing tool that has totally changed the face of society over the past few decades. We have seen some bold and interesting things arise from the WWW. Unfortunately, we have also seen some truly horrifying things.

As a blogger, social media enthusiast and twenty-something, I can't imagine the crippling effect that these bills would have on the way that people communicate, create and entertain. The internet has allowed people to share and learn at a rate that could have never been imagined before. To censor user-generated content is to censor the American people and we cannot stand for it.

I agree that piracy is a huge issue, especially when there are services like Spotify and Netflix that offer just about everything at your finger tips for a small monthly fee. However, we cannot allow the government to censor and shut down any website that they deem to be "a threat" or even just "facilitating theft."

Do you even realize how incredibly simple and common copyright infringement is? For example, if a blog were to even mention the new Beyoncé album and not credit it correctly, it could be shut down in an instant. Which is to say, that if bloggers are going to be held with such high esteem, they should be responsible for credibility...but that's a different topic entirely.

We are trivializing everything that we have built on the internet...the beautiful, intricate web of art and information. Yes, there are websites out there that the world wide web would probably be better without, but are you willing to sacrifice blogs, social media, wikis...any user-generated content, really...just to stop some douche bags from downloading porn and the new Nickelback CD? No, thanks...there's gotta be a better way.

Stand up now and STOP WEB CENSORSHIP!