The government wants to censor the Internet

[Elisto Dragonwings]

Kind of hard for me to boycott these corporations when I already mostly avoid supporting them...

I mostly agree with that link you posted, but I do think raising awareness is a useful first step. So many people I know had not heard of SOPA before this past week. No, I don't think the blackout as a protest was a solution, which is why I didn't black out my blog or Etsy shop, but I hope it at least got people's attention. And I don't like that it had to be other companies trying to bring about awareness and change instead of individuals...those of us the government is suppose to listen to. But I do question what else we're supposed to do. Vote out the politicians who supported it? You need to have enough other voters aware of the issues to also vote like you do to actually get them out of office. And I don't like voting based on one issue. I agree with my senators on other issues more than I do people who've run against them, but they (supposedly) support PIPA. And who says anyone else I might have the option to vote for next would be any better?

The system's broken, sure, but what exactly are we supposed to do about it? Until I or someone else can come up with something actually effective, I'm going to continue to do what I've been doing because, honestly, at least it's something.

[Rozax]

The main thing we can do is to keep ourselves educated, and try to prevent those around us from becoming too apathetic about this issue. Here are a couple fun, and insightful, articles on the inner-workings of SOPA/PIPA:

MPAA Directly & Publicly Threatens Politicians Who Aren't Corrupt Enough To Stay Bought and
Why Chris Dodd Failed With His SOPA/PIPA Strategy...and why he'll continue to fail.

[Neon Black]

Moving this thread to the Library as it's proven to be a genuinely intelligent discussion going on here.

[Elisto Dragonwings]

I suppose this does make more sense in this section, huh?

[Elisto Dragonwings]

So, I got responses from my senators('s offices)! The one who had been a cosponsor of PIPA acknowledged it had flaws and that they would continue to find a way to fix them, and the other senator, who's position was less clear when I wrote the letter I guess agreed with all the concerns I raised? and does not support it. It was hard to tell because the email I got was literally excerpts from things...I guess she said? in other places all pasted together. Or it was just a badly written email. The fonts weren't even all the same! Which kind of surprised me because she had a much more organized and easier to use website than my other senator. Someone needs some better staff/interns writing their letters!

[Rozax]

"The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) claims that SOPA and PIPA are aimed at stopping online piracy. But as this infographic demonstrates, it’s really about fighting innovation. Piracy sucks, but the Internet doesn’t. We need to throw PIPA out with SOPA and start over with legislation created with guidance from technology experts that aims to control piracy – not our freedom to create and innovate online. -- Infographic by Anne Rhodes"

They've said it all, so I have nothing to add to this post.

[Rozax]

Is anyone keeping up with this CISPA business?

[Paycheck]

I hope SOPA/CISPA/ACTA/OFWGKTA passes. Maybe we'll take some real initiative after the decision doesn't work against pirates, but makes people unhappy anyway.

[InvaderMeer]

Is this SOPA or ACTA all over again?

I like to look into conspiracy theories as a hobby; the bizarer the better, very few I actually believe but when I read stuff like this it makes me wonder what the government is up to and if there really is something they don't want you to know. The best way to keep a secret? Hide it in plain sight.

[tails]

I guess were gonna have to start beeing freedom fighters in real life or should I say freedom defenders when I first saw the show in 93 it didn't matter to me what the good guys were called but forever since 9/11/01 the freedom fighters remind me of terrace I don't know why it just does sadly and because of this freedom defenders sounds a lot better

If This happens with the government censoring stuff that makes them doctor Robotnik is president and his nephew is the rest of the government and sleet and dingo are the Secret Service

[tails]

What I meant was my last post The title freedom fighters

[32ChiliDogs]

Next thing you know we'll be lined up for the roboticizer to be "Fixed".