SOPA and PIPA and other initials of doom, DOOM!

Okay we typically try and keep things pretty light and fun here at GC. However, in case you have been living under a rock for the past few days, or haven’t gone to Wikipedia to find out how to change your spark plugs, then you may be wondering just what the heck is up with all this SOPA\PIPA business. The short of it is there are two bills in congress backed by large corporation focusing on censorship under the guise of “anti-piracy.” And we’re not talking black bars across boobies kind of censorship.

Now I’m not the biggest anti-piracy guy for a number of reasons, none of which is being cheap or trying to rob creators of their income. But that’s a conversation for another day. The deal is that these bills aren’t even about anti-piracy. We’re talking ending up like communist china and George Orwell’s 1984’s baby. This will impact all creators across all mediums if passed, and never mind the future of information on the net and universal access.

So enough drivel from me. Two links you need to check out: Our foul-mouthed friend, Chuck Wendig over at Terrible Minds has a nice cheeky response to the bills (shocking I know). And then on a more serious perspective, and with lots of good information like the info graph below is American Censorship. There you can send a nice handy form letter to your congresspeople as well as watch video’s and read up on the status and effects of these bills.

This past year has seen the largest coming together of a diminishing social class across international boundaries. Religious organizations are gathering to protest being kicked out of public schools. It’s supposedly going to be the end of the world. And now nations are coming together to protest the American government’s potential policing of the Internet. So yes it has be tumultuous, but it has shown that people, regular people like us, can band together to do more than just complain, but actually work for change. I’m not a big “go get’em-hugs and change the world” type of speech giver, so yeah…

Let’s make something happen so our future generations will still be free to learn and express themselves.

photo: Americancensorship.org