Internet Issues in USA -- SOPA and PIPA

If you are in the USA, you may have heard of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect-IP Act (PIPA). Advocates of these proposals in the legislature claim that they will protect people who create resources from having them stolen or used without proper attribution. Opponents point out that these acts strike at the heart of what makes the internet useful, not only for intellectual property but also for commerce.

Visit http://americancensorship.org/ for more information about these proposals, and to join me and others in protesting the proposed legislation. We do need to protect intellectual property, but these measures go too far. For instance, as I understand the proposals I would need to remove all links to other sites, because if I link to another site that has taken information from an unattributed source, or has linked to it without the creator's permission, I could be held liable for breaking the law. LInking to information is at the heart of the internet, and laws such as that would render the internet almost useless. So, please, go to http://americancensorship.org/ to learn more and to tell your legislator that there needs to be a better way.

Thanks.