Perhaps you tried accessing Wikipedia today, and for some reason, a huge banner comes between you and your pool of knowledge, claiming that the website has been blacked out in protest against two bill that are being proposed by the U.S. congress, specifically, the Stop Piracy Online Act (SOPA) and the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act (PROTECT-IP Act, or PIPA).
What’s the all the buzz about and why is there such a massive protest when the bills seem to be proponents in the fight against theft and piracy? Especially when it’s a bill in the U.S. and not Malaysia?
This is what will happen: Imagine that you posted a homemade video on YouTube, with say, Christina Perri’s A Thousand Years as a backing track for your soon-to-be sensational video, and then it goes viral. PIPA, with its hawk eyes will swoop down, not at you (because you don’t reside in the U.S.), but at YouTube, and demand that YouTube remove the content, or risk being shut down.
And that’s only a miniscule example. In a sentence, this means censorship of the internet. Hundreds of your favourite sites, including Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and foursquare will be severely affected. Really, any website that thrives on user-generated content (your pictures and videos) will become targets of these acts. Very much like what is done in China, websites will be blocked and filtered out from search engines.
That’s why they’re all protesting. And if the bill is passed, it will mean that you won’t have any more Eye Want Candy to ogle at anymore!
Maybe the world really will end in 2012.
Learn more: End Piracy, Not Liberty
If the world ends this year, it would be SOPA’s and PIPA’s fault. http://t.co/fihaLn3K
Eye Want Candy please, SOPA and PIPA! *puss in boots eyes*
If SOPA and PIPA continues, there shall be no more eye want candy or youtube stars! Gasp! http://t.co/THDujazf