I have spent the past several hours reading over the bogus bill called SOPA or Stop Online Piracy Act. As I was looking through it, several sources identified that the bill will not only threaten to shut down any websites that are distributing pirated goods, but will ultimately shut down any website that links to another website that distributes the pirated goods.
I would cite the sources but I do not want to be put on the White House's blacklist for linking to another copyright source. This is where the bill crashes into the fundamental purpose of the internet.
The reason the internet is so huge and provides the everyday user with such ease of access to current information and news is because it is all inter-connected. If some of the supporters of SOPA were to publish an article that had an embedded Youtube video of Lady Gaga, well then Lady Gaga could get said supporter's website shut down for piracy.
I do not think that the legislature or the supporters of SOPA even understand the rammafications of passing such an act. Like for instance, how many people use Google to find information on the internet? Well, unfortunately for Google, they fall under the "rogue site" clause in the act and will be shut down.
If SOPA gets passed, it will cripple the infrastructure of the internet. Users will have to know exactly where they want to go and type in the exact URL into the address bar, otherwise they will not find the news article about their 98 year old grandmother that was published in some local newspaper.
The internet will revert back to the rotary telephone. A device that if you did not know the number or had a phonebook, you could not contact the individual. It may seem a little extreme, but the fact remains. Reddit users have already begun creating a "phonebook" for internet websites that will likely be shut down if SOPA passes.
Read more about SOPA and prepare a letter to send to your representative!
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