This
site has been
blacked out in protest of SOPA and PIPA.
This
May, I will
graduate from college with a degree in Computer Science. I've had a few
internships and jobs in the industry, and while it's not always been
exciting or glamorous work, it has been interesting and rewarding.
One
of the reasons
I want to work in this field is that it's so filled with extraordinary
possibilities to produce profound, life-altering changes in the way
that we do things. Computers have literally changed the way we do
business, communicate, shop, seek entertainment, connect, and commute.
And that's just the tip of the iceberg.
Now
the RIAA and
MPAA are trying to squash out piracy by severally restricting the way
that the Internet works. They want to remove domain names of sites that
contain copyrighted works, or that link to copyrighted works. For all
we know, that could include things like links in the comments section
of a blog, or put in a social network user's status update. Services
like Twitter, Youtube, Reddit, and Google+ would become unviable, as
well as any site that contains content created by people who are not
the owners of the site.
Which
just happens
to be most of the interesting sites and services on the web.
Not
only that, but
the bill could destabilize the DNS, make the Internet less secure, and
force ISPs and search engines jump through hoops to comply with it. All
because, according the legislators, the perfectly functional DMCA take
down system isn't good enough.
This
law could not
only squander all the hard work that went into the sites and services
of today, but also waste the potential of future ideas that would be
nearly impossible to implement without fear of being taken down looming
over head. The future ideas that will help keep a generation of
Americans, like me, employed.
The
kicker to the
whole thing is simple, too. This will not help lower piracy rates.
Pirates will still find a way to get the content that they want for
free. You can't completely kill piracy. You can minimize it, but you
can't kill it. And trying to fight piracy using law won't even make a
dent in the number of works pirated. Until they stop trying to
legislate piracy away, and come up with solutions that will convince
people that it is better to buy media than to pirate it, they will
continue to wage this misguided war.
If
you're an
citizen of the United States, please contact your congress-people. Tell
them that the Internet, one of the greatest forces for the free flow of
ideas and knowledge, is being threatened because an industry can't
adapt to the changing expectations of their consumers, and that's just
plain ludicrous.
If you are a citizen of the United States of America, please contact your congress-people
https://writerep.house.gov/writerep/welcome.shtml
http://www.senate.gov/general/contact_information/senators_cfm.cfm