A guy whom I admire greatly, Matthew Inman from The Oatmeal did it up http://theoatmeal.com/sopa and it's a great example.
Wikipedia among many other sites are down today in protest of the SOPA and PIPA bills. They're broad bills which in the long run will have the opposite effect what what they're trying to accomplish. When companies like Google, Mozilla, The Huffington Post, and Wikipedia stand up against these bills I tend to listen. I listen even more when none of it is uttered on Fox News, CNN or a lot of other major media outlets.
With that in mind this will irrevocably change our internet, and it's exactly what our Congress rails against when a country like China or Egypt put out legislation like this. But it's bought Congress running this legislation through via companies like the MPAA and RIAA using lobbies to push this through so they can have the control. And when it's lobbied hard you know Congress LOVES to roll over. And that's just wrong in my eyes. I don't advocate piracy, but this is a huge over reaction from these companies. Companies that tried to sue for the first VCR and MP3 players. Companies that pull down YouTube videos of a child playing because there was a song playing in the background on the tv. And you want these people in control of EVERYTHING posted on the Internet? Really? This is madness, and I'm about to show you exactly why.
I have an excellent link that will break it down for you here; more eloquently than I can:
The Problem with SOPA
And here's a quick look at how this will effect the comics community:
Comics Alliance - The Danger of SOPA to Comic Books and You.
And finally just an interesting read From Whil Wheaton's blog:
The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) has looked at tomorrow’s “Internet blackout” in opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)—and it sees only a “gimmick,” a “stunt,” “hyperbole,” “a dangerous and troubling development,” an “irresponsible response,” and an “abuse of power.”
“Wikipedia, reddit, and others are going dark to protest the legislation, while sites like Scribd and Google will also protest. In response, MPAA chief Chris Dodd wheeled out the big guns and started firing the rhetoric machine-gun style.
“Only days after the White House and chief sponsors of the legislation responded to the major concern expressed by opponents and then called for all parties to work cooperatively together, some technology business interests are resorting to stunts that punish their users or turn them into their corporate pawns, rather than coming to the table to find solutions to a problem that all now seem to agree is very real and damaging.”
To which Wheaton replies:
Can I interrupt for a moment? Thanks. When you complain that opponents didn’t “come to the table to find solutions”, do you mean that we didn’t give NINETY-FOUR MILLION DOLLARS to congress like the MPAA? Or do you mean that we didn’t come to the one hearing that Lamar Smith held, where opponents of SOPA were refused an opportunity to comment? Help me out, here, Chris Dodd, because I’m really trying hard to understand you.
That's the gist of their corruption. 94 Million dollars from just the MPAA to push this through and bar opponents speaking during the ONLY hearing. That's not democracy, that's blatant thug tactics. That's China and North Korea. You can read more on his blog and I think it's an excellent call out of these over reaching thugs posing as corporations, lobbies and government.
So in conclusion here's some great links that I think will help inform and help you to get in contact with Congress to show your disapproval of this bill.
So after all that? Get involved!
Take Action Checklist to Stop Censorship
Take Action Checklist to Stop Censorship
Yeah, I'm vehemently against this bill. As an artist and an American this is another step to trashing my civil liberties. I'm sorry if you don't see this for the corporate grab that this is, so feel free to disagree, but I don't feel right about this and I'm saying so. This isn't an end to piracy, this just the entertainment industry forcing their hand and I won't have it.
Thank you for your time, and understanding!
HANDS OFF MY INTERNET.
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