(Not So) Final Thoughts

It is now January 19th. Wikipedia is back in view, Reddit, Wordpress, Google and all of the other sites who "blacked out" yesterday are now back to normal. But this issue is not done by long shot. As you will find out at the end of this post, there is still a lifetime of work to be done. The controversial bills that were being protested are not the end of the line, nor were they the beginning. SOPA and PIPA were just the continuation in the chain of bills drafted by the entertainment industry to stop any and all sharing of any of their stuff for any reason. Currently, the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) allows anybody to share anything as long as the person sharing is not making money. This is called Fair-Use. The entertainment industry seek to remove that. If, for example, I post a photo and somebody wants to critique it, he or she can copy the photo, repost it in whole or in part, with attribution, and mark it and say anything about it. I have no legal recourse because it's fair-use. This would be taken away under SOPA and/or PIPA. I can't explain all of it myself, so I will let Clay Shirky, writer and teacher, explain it. It may not appear below if this legislation passes, so you will have to go to the TED website and look for Clay Shirky talking about SOPA and PIPA. I wouldn't even be able to link to the video, let alone embed it.

As a bonus, I have also included the Khan Academy explanation of these two bills.

Keep our Internet free. Thank you.

The Internet Must Remain Free

Don't let them shut down the Internet. Shut them down instead. If you are a blogger and oppose these bills, repost this list on your own blog. Spread it around.

H.R.3261 – Stop Online Piracy Act
Sponsor: Rep. Lamar Smith (R-Texas)
Co-sponsors: Rep. Howard Berman (D-California)
Rep. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tennessee)
Rep. Mary Bono Mack (R-California)
Rep. Steve Chabot (R-Ohio)
Rep. John Conyers (D-Michigan)
Rep. Ted Deutch (D-Florida)
Rep. Elton Gallegly (R-California)
Rep. Bob Goodlatte (R-Virginia)
Rep. Timothy Griffin (R-Arkansas)
Rep. Ben Quayle (R-Arizona)
Rep. Dennis A. Ross (R-Florida)
Rep. Adam Schiff (D-California)
Rep. Lee Terry (R-Nebraska)

S.968 – Protect IP Act of 2011
Sponsor: Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vermont)
Co-sponsors: Sen. Lamar Alexander (R-Tennessee)
Sen. Kelly Ayotte (R-New Hampshire)
Sen. Michael F. Bennet (D-Colorado)
Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Connecticut)
Sen. Roy Blunt (R-Missouri)
Sen. John Boozman (R- Arkansas)
Sen. Benjamin L. Cardin (D-Maryland)
Sen. Robert P. Casey Jr. (D-Pennsylvania)
Sen. Thad Cochran (R-Mississippi)
Sen. Christopher A. Coons (D-Delaware)
Sen. Bob Corker (R-Tennessee)
Sen. Richard Durbin (D-Illinois)
Sen. Michael B. Enzi (R-Wyoming) 
Sen. Dianne Feinstein (D-California)
Sen. Al Franken (D-Minnesota)
Sen. Kirsten E. Gillibrand (D-New York)
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-South Carolina)
Sen. Chuck Grassley (R-Iowa)
Sen. Kay Hagan (D-North Carolina)
Sen. Orrin G. Hatch (R-Utah)
Sen. Amy Klobuchar (D-Minnesota)
Sen. Herb Kohl (D-Wisconsin)
Sen. Joseph I. Lieberman (D-Connecticut)
Sen. John McCain (R-Arizona)
Sen. Marco Rubio (R-Florida)
Sen. Charles E. Schumer (D-New York)
Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (D-New Hampshire)
Sen. Tom Udall (D-New Mexico)
Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-Rhode Island)

Pirate Me, Please

In a couple days as of this writing, many sites on the Internet will go black for a day. This is to protest and show how the Internet in the US will look if the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) were to become law. I am fully opposed to both of these bills which would stifle the free speech of the Internet. The reasoning behind both of these bills is flawed and the response from the White House, although opposed to the bills, states that digital piracy is a serious and real problem. The real problem with this statement and the arguments in favor of these bills is that they show no proof that digital piracy is a true threat to copyright holders.

Piracy can be a good thing. I have bought a few programs after trying the pirated copies because the demo version was so limited that I found it unusable. I have been introduced to some of my favorite music because of piracy and have spent a lot of money buying high-quality copies of the songs that I like. Piracy can help the starving artist, the floundering writer or the failing musician by spreading his or her name around. I have no problem if people use my photos or my writing on their sites. I don’t even have a lawyer. All I ask is that you give credit where it’s due. Link back to me or use my name, AlienCG, and give me the credit that I deserve.

By the way, I will not be blacking out my blog on January 18 because I don’t have the readership. I will, however, not post anything that day. As of the writing of this post, the House bill, SOPA, is most likely dead and no further action will be taken on it as it stands.