The webs are abuzz with the upcoming SOPA legislation and its implications for freedom on the internet. Although it looks like the people's voices have been heard, as Obama's White house released a statement which says that he does not support this legislation and will not sign it if it passes in congress. Read the full statement here. Yet, in the same statement, a new legislation to extend US sovereignty to the computers of foreign citizens and companies is promoted. I do not think this is a good path for the US government to go down. We are every day looking more and more like an empire, a form of government I do not support.
Although the battle seems to be won for a short time, the war is far from over. We, as citizens of the internet, must stand for freedom. There is nothing more dangerous than censorship, usually moralized and called protection from crime or evil. But no matter the reasoning, we must stand firm on the belief that the internet is a place which should not be censored nor controlled nor monitored by our or any government. If you need any examples of why this would be bad, look at China and the constant rebelling of Tibetans (look at the date), although this is not the direct effect of censorship, the Chinese government have censored out all Tibetan protesting within their country. Telling their people that Tibetans are happy being put to work in factories to boost the economy of China. We cannot let any government put such a heavy hand in public opinion like this. We must keep the internet free.
If you are interested, please sign up to this and many many more strikes, petitions, etc. or even, if you are so motivated, call your congress person and inform them of your stance against SOPA and other internet restricting legislations.
http://sopastrike.com/
unfortunately i feel that the more times the bill get pushed down the road, renamed, and altered, the more people will forget about it. we have to continue to be vigilant to keep the internet, and ourselves free
ReplyDeleteInternet censorship takes many forms ranging from less contested age-appropriate content and criminal activity (e.g. child pornography) to more contested political content. Censorship of content based on politics is usually what comes to mind when people think about internet censorship, but it includes a wide range of banned activities that are inconvenient for some to mention. For example, France and Germany have banned references to Nazism and many Western countries have made so-called "hate speech" illegal online. These too are forms of political censorship.
ReplyDeleteMore more, read this: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_censorship
You wrote, "Yet, in the same statement, a new legislation to extend US sovereignty to the computers of foreign citizens and companies is promoted."
I submit that the First Amendment was created here. It is promoted here, and exported to other countries in many ways ranging from music and movies to leading by example. The recent Congressional bills proposing censorship are based on a European model, not an American one. "Hate crimes" legislation is another European invention. But then they and the U.N. have "human rights", not "inalienable rights" as outlined in our Founding documents. We, as a Republic, and as the oldest free nation on the planet, acknowledge additional absolute rights that other governments do not (think 2nd, 9th, 10th Amendments, etc.). Here a censorship bill was submitted. here it failed to pass. It will not be the last time, but so long as we stand together based on a solid understanding of history and the source of inalienable rights, and we understand the dangers of heading down the slippery slope Europe did with their forms of censorship, we will defeat the next attempt as well.
That having been said, how would you propose I stop people from stealing my music?
PatriotMusic