SOPA and PIPA

I know I'm a day late posting about the black out that happened yesterday to highlight the importance of contacting your legislators.
I wasn't going to post about this but my DD1 begged me to please post so folks that might not know about this important issue.
SOPA and PIPA are legislation introduced to deal with piracy issues.
Good intentions to be sure the the overreaching that is allowed to occur without due process is unacceptable. 
You may have noticed black outs or interruptions in service around the internet yesterday on sites like Flickr, Wikipedia, Google, Twitter, Mozilla and several other sites that allow user contributed content.  Here is the Wiki link if you want to read more about these bills and how you can work toward stopping them!! 

I have emailed my senator and congress people.  I also intend to call them.  

Wikipedia had this to say about the response of "we the people":

"More than 162 million people saw our message asking if you could imagine a world without free knowledge.
You said no.
You shut down Congress’s switchboards.
You melted their servers.
From all around the world your messages dominated social media and the news.
Millions of people have spoken in defense of a free and open Internet."

But we can't stop now.
PIPA is up for a vote on January 24th.
It is extremely important to keep the pressure on our legislators.
Tell them you do not support censorship of the internet and they shouldn't either.
  Most of us, after we have blogged long enough, have had something pirated.
I had a photo re-posted with out my permission.
I just stumbled upon it.
What if someone else linked to that photo?
Both the person that linked and the person that posted the pirated photo could be sued, have their content taken down or worse.
What if someone didn't want you posting about something.
They could link up to your blog with the pirated content and guess what?
YOU would be the one in trouble!
No questions asked and you have to police everyone that may link to you.
CRAZY!!!

This link has an article that really explains all the issues with these two bills way better than I can.  

Wiki also says:

"I don't live in the United States. What's the best way for me to help?

Contact your country's Ministry of Foreign Affairs or similar government agency. Tell them you oppose SOPA and PIPA, and any similar legislation. SOPA and PIPA will affect websites outside of the United States, and even sites inside the United States (like Wikipedia) that also affect non-American readers -- like you. Calling your own government will also let them know you don't want them to create their own bad anti-Internet legislation."

As my DD1 always says, "point of the story?" 

If you like all of the freedom of content you have access to while using the internet please, please go to the Wiki link, find the contact info for your legislators and EMAIL OR CALL THEM  or BOTH!!!

OK off my soapbox now.

This is really important to all of us that use the internets (all of them, LOL).

I promise some quilty content later tonight, after I get some dinner. 

~XOP~