Written by Riley Stauffer
By now most have you encountered the angry tweets and countless online protests against this new "internet censorship law". To clear up any confusion, the correct name for this law is the Stop Online Piracy Act, which is also known as the PROTECT IP bill. Lobbying from Hollywood put $200 million in funds behind this bill, and if it is passed, it would enable the US government to blacklist any "rogue" websites that violate intellectual property laws. So, it makes sense why big names in the entertainment industry, like Disney and Time Warner, are doing everything they can to support this bill: currently, online piracy cheats them out of millions of dollars in revenue per year.
However, to the general public, this bill means much more. With this bill comes the fear that the internet we have grown to love so much will soon begin looking like China's "firewalled web", in which censorship is taken to an extreme. To paint a picture: if this bill were passed, sites that borrow pictures, content, and/or video (like Youtube and Tumblr), free movie and television viewing sites, many blogs, and all of our favorite social networks (think Facebook and Twitter) could be censored. Moreover, e-mail providers may be forced to censor certain links you send and receive.
However, don't panic yet-there is hope still! On the public's side are big names like the Mozilla Foundation and Google. Sites like Tumblr are taking it upon themselves to make the general public aware of this law and giving the public ways to voice their discontent. Tumblr even shows what it would be like if the censorship law passed, by blacking out many users' posts and content.
Today, November 16th, was even deemed the first ever American Censorship Day, in an effort to voice the peoples' outrage. So, be sure to stick up for the internet that you love so much! Speak your mind in our comment box!
ok thanks
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