Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Sign the Petition - Oppose Censorship

Do you want Google or Yahoo or Wikipedia deciding what you can and cannot view?  They don't want to, but the big media companies want THE GOVERNMENT to force them to act as censors and protectors of copyright and intellectual property. That is the gist of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate. 

Stop Censorship!
The issue is simple.  Some websites, particularly those outside the US, put pirated content online. They are not subject to US intellectual property protections. This pisses off groups like The Motion Picture Association of America, Wal-Mart, Major League Baseball, the National Association of Broadcasters and many, many more.

I get it, they get pissed because some people are virtually getting into the movies/concert/ball park for free and that hurts their bottom line.  But this is exactly the wrong way to go about solving their problem. Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia and other websites should not be given the responsibility for restricting access to information to protect the interests of these trillion dollar industries.

This is like telling the highway department that they are responsible because someone drove your stolen car on their road.  It is stupid, it is overly broad and in the end, it is censorship. 

To add your voice to the debate, to tell Congress to vote NO on these measures, go to americancensorship.org and sign the petition.  Act fast, votes are scheduled as early as January 24th.

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