Today you’ll find several of your favorite websites protesting against SOPA and PIPA (Google, Wikipedia and Reddit among others). Significant moves for a significant bill.
No matter what you think of piracy, when looking at the bills being proposed to Congress it seems unrealistic that they will kill piracy – but they definitively will censor the Internet and kill the Web as we know it today.
Whilst this is primarily happening in the US, Internet citizens all over the world will be affected when one of these bills gets passed. Search engines, blogs like this one and the way you communicate via social media or upload videos, songs or photos – all will be dramatically affected and change the way you use the Internet.
What can I do?
Learn all about it
Here’s a basic SOPA for Dummies guide with everything you need to know. Digest it and get comfortable speaking about it, the Internet needs you to know what you’re talking about. This will come in particularly handle when you…
Contact your Congressperson (if you are in US)
Contact your congressperson and make sure they know you’re against SOPA and urge them to vote against it. Be vocal about your concerns and explain that while initial impressions of the bill seem positive, there’s a dark undercurrent that needs to be addressed that could have drastically negative affects on the Internet as we know it.
Spread the word! Similarly, raise awareness by spreading the word on SOPA or the below video on your Twitter, Facebook or Google+ account, or anywhere else. Make sure the world knows you’re against it and drive your friends – even the non-geeks – to get involved.
Talk to your employers
A lot of tech-giants are now against SOPA. Talk to your employers, however large and small, educate them on the matter if need be and urge them to come out strongly against SOPA.
Get the TNW newsletter
Get the most important tech news in your inbox each week.