Yes, a belated “Happy New Year!” and an even more late “Happy holiday!” to everyone. It’s a new year, but for me it’s just another day of college and web design so forgive me if I withhold my enthusiasm. Now then, to the main meat of this post, but before I do, I want to make a thing or three clear. I don’t like using the word ‘hate’. I try not to use it because I don’t actually hate many things. So when I say, “I hate politics.” I want the full meaning to get through. I don’t hate the people in politics or governments, but most of the time I’ll disagree with some of their views. I’m too lazy to hate, but politics can get my brows all furled in anger. So, with that little note out of the way, let’s get to the topic at hand.

So, what exactly is SOPA? Well, if you’ve been living under a rock or off the internet, SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act aka H.R. 3261) is a bill that would allow the “U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement.” Okay, that doesn’t seem so bad…“The bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a crime, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison for 10 such infringements within six months.”

…Oh.

Okay, so one of the major complains is that the bill’s terms can be taken so broadly that almost anything online could fall under its heavy hand. So, let me give you some examples of how far-reaching this bill will be if passed. First, the online radio station that has raised raised over $10,000 every year for the last two years for the Canadian Cancer Society where I work in designing the site and keeping tabs on the back-end, that would be closed down for streaming all the music it does. Second, Guild Wars 2 Live that streams people playing through video games (and eventually Guild Wars 2!) is a community I go to both bother people and contribute towards good times, but it would see its doors closing and an awesome idea and community left behind. Third, all my ponies and bronies would be SOL more so than they already are (Hasbro is making it hard to enjoy My Little Pony enough as is) which then would make my own blog and site in trouble because of all the images I use, not to mention my livestream of game playing (and I promise to pick up once more!).

So, all of the time I’ve spent talking about video games, HTML, ponies, and whatever else will be for not and wholly destroyed because of this bill and it’s terribly broad interpretations would see half of my friends and acquaintances fined, at the very least, and then almost all of the websites I visit more than once daily would have to change how the present information or will have to shut down.

This whole thing is what I like to call bullshit. Both SOPA and PIPA (Protect IP Act) need to die, but what makes me more furious is that they are something that should never have seen the light of day. The internet is not some simple tool that you can moderate and control for no real reason (I have yet to see a “good” reason for allowing SOPA to be passed). The internet is more than a simple tool or library of information. It is a vast networked community of individuals from around the world who can share their knowledge and experiences with each other and I hope that it will continue to be long into the future.

Politics is a messy business and I hate it without reserve, but this time it has gone too far and this bill needs to be stopped. There are plenty of sites joining in the fight with plans to blackout come the 18th of January which will hopefully show just how broken we can become without the freedom of knowledge on the internet. While my own site will be joining this blackout, and I know full well how little it is seen, a collection of voices can rise up and bring change.

I like the internet. I like what I have learned from it, what others have shared with me through it, and bringing what I can to the table. I would like to continue doing so, as no doubt many other folks would, and to do this both SOPA and PIPA need to be stopped, but all in good time.

Stay lazy, net-denizens.