Tuesday, January 17, 2012

STOP SOPA AND PIPA!

THE BATTLECRY THAT COULD SAVE THE ONLINE WORLD!

Greetings b-movie fans! I make it a point to NOT discuss religion, sports, or politics on this blog because, well quite frankly, they are topics that cause arguments and/or severe boredom. But now, I and many others have been awoken from our slumber by a threat that stands to ruin the internet for all of us Americans. The freedom to share information, pictures, videos, and ideas is at stake here, and it is time we all pulled together and did our part to stop SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) from becoming part of our nation's legislation.

Essentially, these bills which are meant to "deter piracy," give corporations (particularly companies in the entertainment industry) the power to get "infringing" sites BLOCKED from the web. (I guess this is sort of a thank you letter from Congress to the companies that helped Reps and Governors fund their way into the seats they will most likely lose if either bill is passed... but I digress.)

Essentially the web will be CENSORED and sites will be blocked from American web-surfers, based on whether or not a company like... oh, say... SONY believes that a site has infringing material. This essentially renders the Fair Use Law moot and means that any website on the internet, be it Wikipedia, Youtube, Facebook, or sites like The Vault or even Badmovies.Org could be blacklisted and banned by the powers that be.

That is why, for most of today, dozens (hundreds? thousands?!) of blogs and websites (including reddit, Google, and Wikipedia) will be "blacking out" to protest SOPA and PIPA. With that said, between 8AM and 8PM the Vault, The Riff Brothers blog, The Casual Gaming Blog, the Genre Watch blog, Radiation-Scarred Reviews, and Bill's Beta Ray Blog will be unavailable.

If you have a blog or website, make sure you do your part to spread the word about SOPA and PIPA, and do what you can to open the eyes of everyone else around you. Contact your congressmen (and women) and tell them to STOP SOPA AND PIPA before they totally f*ck up the last bastion of absolute freedom in the world!

For more information, check out this article and this article. Knowledge is power after all. Also, for more SOPA related rants from yours truly, FOLLOW ME ON TWITTER!

No comments:

Post a Comment