I’m sorry to divert attention away from meaningless TV news, but there’s something very real that threatens the way we use the internet. For me, it threatens my ability to make a livelihood — my very existence. Two bills that Congress is incredibly close to passing — the PROTECT-IP Act and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) — will grant corporations the unprecedented ability to censor the internet and crush web start-ups. Blogs and social media as you know them will end, and during a time when the economy needs all the help it can get, it could crush any small business that so much as allows a link to a copyrighted work.
Listen, I don’t want to go into the legalese because I can barely comprehend that something so world-shaking is actually real, but you can watch the video above and read more about it at Uproxx, BoingBoing, Lifehacker, and The Daily What. In addition, Tumblr has facilitated a way for you to get more information about the act, and will even directly connect you to your congressman or congresswoman.
If you read this site with any regularity, you know that I hate talking about politics. This isn’t about whether you’re on the right or left, it’s about basic rights that corporations want to take away from citizens. In the words of Waylon Smithers, it’s unconscionably fiendish. Don’t let the government do this.
