SOPA So Good?

Here’s the thing: I write.  I write in a public forum: this blog.  I have a copyright notice on display but, really, anyone could lift anything from my blog, use it elsewhere, claim it as their own, and I would never know. 

SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, the US bill aiming to stop copyright infringement, sounded like a good idea to me.  And to a lot of other people, until I thought about it.  Read this article for a clear explanation:

http://www.copyblogger.com/sopa/

Here’s the thing: if it becomes law, the cartoons, videos, jokes, news items and links I share with you – in spite of the fact that I acknowledge the source – will all be so well protected by SOPA that my blog could be shut down forever, and I could be prosecuted.  US citizens could face up to five years in jail.

Here’s another thing: I don’t have to do anything wrong myself: a reader could leave a comment with a link to You Tube and I could be punished.

I am not even a small fish in a big pond; I am decomposing fish poo at the bottom of the pool, unnoticed by all but my few loyal (and much appreciated) regulars, but it’s people like me they’ll come after. 

I don’t like copyright infringement or online piracy, but I appear to be inadvertently guilty of it.  Sorry about that.  Have one of my posts as compensation.

Here’s one more thing: I abhor censorship.  I hate some of the stuff that’s available on the web, but it is the price we pay for the freedom to say what we like.  I would rather you stole every one of my posts and claimed them as your own than shut even one of you down for telling a joke that you (or I) didn’t invent.

SOPA so good?  No.  It will have the ether tied up faster than you can say Chinese Government.

Don’t let them get away with it – blog about it, petition about it, protest about it.  Use the freedom of the internet to make your voice heard.  While you still can.

Related articles

• SOPA / PIPA Will Destroy PC Gaming (gametwonk.com)
• WebHostingBuzz to Blackout on January 18th in Protest of SOPA and PIPA (prweb.com)
• Catching up with SOPA (and Hello, IPKat Readers!) (ipkitten.blogspot.com)
• What is SOPA? (telegraph.co.uk)
• SOPA / PIPA Blackout (secondmode.wordpress.com)
• SOPA Breaks the Internet (trommetter.com)

Joke 300

A man went to the doctor to complain about the strawberry growing out of his head.

Don’t worry,’ said the doctor; ‘I’ll give you some cream to put on it.’