Not so fast people. Before you get hyped up on thinking Pippa Middelton is dating a sexy Greek god named SOPA, l suggest you to stop before you make a fool of yourself. Those two acronyms have probably taken over your Facebook, and you are so lost. Turn your attention from Perezhilton.com so I can tell you who SOPA and PIPA really are.
SOPA is the “Stop Online Piracy Act” proposed by The House, and PIPA is the “Protect IP Act” initiated by The Senate. In other words friends, this is our government trying to control what we see, do, use, and share on the internet. SOPA and PIPA were created to “tackle the problem of foreign- based websites that sell pirated movies, music, and other products” according to an Amy Schatz of The Wall Street Journal. These bills would allow The Justice Department to act on preventing illegal foreign sites from being available to U.S.A. and to stop funding from Americans. I know you are thinking this is good, because this is a crime that needs to be stopped, but there are many things wrong with these bills. First and foremost, we are Americans! Freedom of speech is our First Amendment to the Constitution.
The most frightening part is the SOPA legislation says in short, that they can send you a court order if you “engage, enable, or facilitate” anything illegal. This means that your favorite sites like Facebook, Twitter, Google, Wikipedia, and other social media sites could be shut down for having any content on their site without the proper copyrights. Think about this, under SOPA you could be punished for posting a video of yourself singing one of Adele’s song, when all you wanted to do was express how much you hate your ex- boyfriend! Forcing social media sites to censor content is not what the beauty of the Internet exemplifies.
On the other hand, the world- wide web has created a space for individuals to come together to share their thoughts and ideas. It has allowed people to keep in touch from opposite sides of the world. Technology has allowed college students to pursue their dreams and start their own business, like Her Campus’s founders from Harvard. Let’s not forget another prominent former Harvard student, Mark Zuckerburg, the King of Social Media and online content. Did I mention that these technology based start- ups create jobs? These are jobs that college students need, so that we can actually get paid for our articles. If SOPA and PIPA existed ten years ago, I’m sorry to say it but we would not have Facebook, and you would not be reading this article on Her Campus.
So now that you know who the real SOPA and PIPA are, I urge you to sign Google’s petition to “End Piracy, Not Liberty.” https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/ . This simple petition will allow you to keep cheating on Wikipedia for a little while longer.
Update as of January 20, 2012. According to Mashable.com Lamar Smith (R- Texas) pulls the SOPA bill after all the criticism. He states the bills needs to be revised to define the issue clearer. As of late SOPA was killed and the PIPA vote will be postponed until February.