Today, sites like Wikipedia, Craigslist, Reddit, and WordPress are participating in the largest online protest in history, against the “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA) and the “Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011″ (PIPA). They’ve made their sites completely unavailable from 12AM EDT on January 18th to 12AM EDT on January 19th, 2012. Google has also blocked out their logo for the day, to show their disapproval of these bill.
Since many people seem to be unfamiliar with these bills, I wanted to share some videos which will help explain the bills better.
The first video is from Mike Moser, of Jeepers Media. Mike Moser, or as he’s more commonly know; “The Toy FAIL Guy,” makes videos exposing toys which are inappropriate for children, or just bizarre. If SOPA/PIPA were to pass then any company which makes a toy which Moser exposes could petition the Government to have his site blocked, and his videos taken down. He would also face jail time for the supposed crime of infringement. He has a unique (some would say obnoxious, but I think it’s funny) way of speaking, but that’s part of his online persona. This video explains that many of the companies which are promoting SOPA/PIPA have been promoting online piracy for years.
Here’s the video:
The next video is from The Cynical Brit. He runs a YouTube channel dedicated to gaming, and if SOPA/PIPA were to pass he would face having his site blocked in the US, and possible jail time if he was arrested within the US, for using clips from video games in his YouTube videos.
Here’s his video:
The overwhelming point of these videos is that SOPA/PIPA isn’t just a threat to the people who use content that could be considered infringing, it’s a threat to the entire internet as we know it.
I sent my emails.
Wikipedia made it super easy – just enter your zip! They will give you the links to contact your reps.
http://www.wikipedia.org
This is a great article and spot-on. But I just wanted to point out that the JeepersMedia guy’s name is Mike Mozart. Easy mistake to make. No biggie. But I like and respect him and just felt it needed pointing out(<– Captain Obvious) XD Keep up the great work and Down With SOPA/PIPA!