The Day The Internet Stood Still: Doing Your Bit To Stop SOPA

Today marks the largest unified internet protest since the world wide web began, with thousands upon thousands of people expressing their anger at SOPA (and PIPA) and huge sites like Wikipedia and Reddit blacking out to raise awareness.

We here at PSLS are also against SOPA, but as a news outlet we’ve decided against blacking out so that we can continue to provide non-stop news coverage about SOPA, PIPA and the games industry. But we still urge our readers to take part in the large-scale protest to “save the internet”.

But What is SOPA?

The Stop Online Privacy Act is, on the surface, a bill that aims to curb rampant internet piracy that costs content holders billions in lost revenue. However, the bill gives far too much power to the content holders, allowing them the ability to censor the internet without due process. The language in the House bill is so broad that opponents worry that it will allow content owners to target US and foreign websites that aren’t knowingly hosting pirated content, which means innocent sites are at risk.

Equally, PIPA (Protect IP Act) puts the web at risk, allowing sites to be shut down for one infringing link, or users to be jailed for 5 years:

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

How Do I Protest?

If you live in the US, the best way to protest is to contact Congress here, and let them know that you are one of the growing multitude against the two bills. If you’re not in the US, you can also contact (scroll down) the US State Department to voice your concern.

TRENDING