I Oppose SOPA and PIPA

If you think SOPA and PIPA are just like any ordinary soup acronym like LOL and BRB, think again.

SOPA or Stop Online Piracy Act better known as House Bill 3261 was introduced in the US House of Representatives to prevent stealing American-produced content (eventually, any nation’s content).

PIPA on the other hand means Protect IP Act. The purpose of this is to protect goods and products that are copied by counterfeiters.

Sounds good right? But the big question here is: WHY all good and famous websites oppose SOPA and PIPA? Take a look at the list below of the websites who oppose these acts:

1. TwitPic
2. Minecraft
3. Wikipedia
4. Reddit
5. Google
6. Wordpress.org
7. Mozilla
8. Godaddy
9. Namecheap
10. Free Press
11. Reddit
12. Flickr
13. Tumblr
14. Vimeo
15. Digibase
 

 

Thanks to sopastrike.com for the list, you can visit the website to view the complete list.

As you can see, these are credible social media, search engine and video hosting websites. It’s so alarming that they are all against SOPA and PIPA.

It’s so ironic that I visited Wikipedia (one of the protesters) to search the effect of SOPA and PIPA to the internet users and here is what I found out:

 

WIKIPEDIA website is currently black out to show their protest against SOPA and PIPA. The message is “Imagine a World without Free Knowledge”.

So, in a micro perspective, I will state my own reasons as a blogger and as an internet user why I oppose SOPA and PIPA.

As a blogger, I oppose SOPA and PIPA because:

1. Ad providers like Google AdSense, Federated Media, etc. will be required to stop providing ad service to the site.

As a blogger, I am earning from blog through the advertisers. If SOPA and PIPA will require advertisers to stop providing ad services, bloggers all around the world will be sad.

2. PayPal, Visa, Mastercard and any other Payment providers will be required to terminate service to the site.

Some bloggers are selling goods online, some bloggers are also accepting website donation through PayPal and other payment gateways. Now, with SOPA and PIPA, these could not be possible anymore.

3. Websites Could be Censored

The SOPA and PIPA will give government the power to censor a website. As a blogger, I was alarmed with this because this will not only ban your website, but also remove your links from the search engines.

As a user, I oppose SOPA and PIPA because:

1. Your ISP can block your access to the website for 5 days
2. Your downloads, uploads and link sharing will be closely monitored
3. This will be a threat to Social Media and Online communities

Piracy is already part of the internet. SOPA and PIPA could not resolve the piracy issue. It would just hold every internet user in the neck. Let’s STOP Piracy, let’s STOP SOPA and let’s stop PIPA.