The Internet Goes Black

*UPDATE: THE SOPA/PIPA BILL HAS BEEN POSTPONED FROM VOTE!!!
(Visit Sopa Countdown for more information)

The only time people look forward to countdowns are their birthdays, Christmas or vacation time off of work. The countdown above, however, is for none of these celebratory dates. 

The countdown represents the day after January 24th, 2012, when Senate will be voting to pass the SOPA bill. For those who aren't up to speed, the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) or the PIPA (Protect IP Act) bill was introduced to House of Representatives as a means in preventing sites on the Internet from facilitating and hosting copyrighted materials on the web. The idea of this bill has good intentions; prevent sites from promoting the piracy of intellectual property by others and hold those sites accountable legally with jail time and fines. The main effects of the bill would be to fine pirate-affiliated sites, block search engines from directing to the site, ban online advertisements related to the pirate site and ultimately, forcing ISP (Internet Service Providers) to prevent any access to said sites. Though I agree with protecting one's intellectual property more than the next person, from my research, the ripple effects of this bill can cause greater issues than stopping a few Internet pirates; it can cause the censorship of the whole Internet.

Let's take Youtube, for example (considering I make Youtube videos and all). Let's say, under the SOPA bill, "Youtuber A" uploads a video that contains copyrighted materials, such as a clip from "Company B", as a way of sharing with their audience their views on a topic. "Company B" comes across "Youtuber A's" video and discovers their IP (intellectual property) has been used unfairly. Under the act, "Company B" can decide to take legal action and report "Youtuber A," which would lead to Youtube being reprimanded for hosting pirated property and eventually being blocked by internet searches, then... Armageddon, right on schedule.

For the sake of Youtube, and other sites out there that are threatened by this bill, I'm using January 18th, 2012, dubbed Internet Protest Day, to voice my opinion about this bill and stand up for the Internet. The Senate needs to understand the snowball effects this bill can have on the rest of the internet. Become a good Internet citizen and go to this site (after January 18th, 2012) and send a letter to your Senators, telling them NOT to pass SOPA. As Captain Planet would say "The Power is Yours!" Don't let the Internet become "All Black Everything."

-Video Vix[o]n