Have you heard of SOPA, or the Stop Online Piracy Act?Or the only marginally less loathsome Protect IP Act?
These are devious bipartisan creations of US legislation that could impose China- or Saudi Arabia-style censorship on millions of web site owners in the Land of the Free. Even including a single link to another site that didn't meet SOPA's stringent standards could result in the site that shared that link being taken down -- with no warning to the site's owner. The U.S. government would have the power to demand that the site be taken down, although the very well-funded supporters of the legislation -- namely the publishing, music, and film industries -- would actually be the watchdogs.
It seems to me that under SOPA, it could be relatively easy for anyone who was displeased by content on a Web site to get that site wiped off of the Web, provided that person had enough money and influence. Just think: my little blue Whirled could be toast. My fake robot pal Salty, whose trademark sign-off is "Bleep-Bloop," could be bleeped right off of the Internet. Your site(s) probably wouldn't be safe either.
There's still time to fight SOPA and Protect IP, though. Here are some helpful links:
http://americancensorship.org/posts/4299/uncensor
And now back to our regularly scheduled ███████ .
PS ~ Thanks to Cassandra Yorgey for sharing those last two links on Facebook.
