Today, Jan. 18 is a day marked with blocked Facebook pictures. I realized that Wikipedia was protesting for the day by blocking its site, and that the Google had a large, Spy Kids type black bar covering its name. SOPA is the Stop Online Piracy Act and PIPA is the Protect Intellectual Property Act. These acts are being protested.

I joined the bandwagon by changing my Facebook picture to this.
I’m going to be honest. I haven’t read this bill. Or that other really long, always talked about healthcare bill. But there’s still a lot of hype.

I don’t download things illegally anymore. No music, movies, video games. I just watch the Colbert Report with commercials on the Comedy Central website.  Part of that is because there is a Firewall here at SAU blocking The Pirate Bay, but it’s also because I just don’t need that stuff anymore.

And what do we need, really? Do we need to download all the episodes from a favorite sitcom and television show? Do we need to download movies so that we can watch them right now, for free? Do we need to download the newest albums of music to stay up with what’s happening in the music scene? I think not.

These acts also carry a fear of government Internet take over. Something like the Great Firewall of China , where the freedom of speech and the freedom of the Internet can be taken away. And for bloggers like us, that is a very scary thought.

I don’t want to have my blog taken down for quoting Thomas Friedman , or for mentioning Five Iron Frenzy lyrics without asking the publishers and music producers permission each and every time.

Also, what’s up with intellectual property rights?  I just don’t get what that’s supposed to mean.
So I’m with Google. Here’s to ending piracy, not liberty.

If you haven’t seen it, visit http://www.google.com/takeaction/.
There’s also this other website with this mini-documentary on SOPA/PIPA. http://fightforthefuture.org/pipa