It’s the 18th of January (and soon to be 19th in Australia) and websites across the web are down in protest of SOPA and PIPA. Some websites such as Demonoid are even protesting in style, while I’ve decided to block out my website by using this simple Javascript plugin that I found after visiting Feross’ blog. This is historic. I can’t think of another time in history where so many powerful websites have blacked out against a bill. It’s good to see this happening though, and we’re lucky that we’re able to do this. Can you imagine if SOPA had been introduced many years ago? If it had been, I could see a plethora of websites being taken down should they decide to protest against something the government wants to push/is doing. This is just one example of how the internet is bringing back democracy.

Source: http://www.flickr.com/photos/williamdag/372494856/

I can’t believe that we still have to protest this crap either. This isn’t the first attempt to introduce laws that hinder freedom on the internet, and it certainly won’t be the last – and don’t forget, right now we’re fighting both SOPA and Protect IP (PIPA) at the same time.

Earlier this week it was announced that SOPA had been “shelved,” however it’s already back. It’s disappointing that during the time it was shelved, people (and news organisations) took to the internet spreading around misinformation that SOPA had been “defeated.” I can see why people want to scream that they’ve defeated it, they really want it gone, but we need to be more accurate with our information. Now that it’s back, there are going to be at least a few people who think it has gone away. Today’s blackout has surely helped inform a mass audience.

The mainstream (sponsored) media can’t possibly ignore such a large online movement. Not even the ones who support SOPA. In fact, News.com.au (owned by Rupert Murdoch) has even gone so far to write a completely useless news item on the Wikipedia blackout. The majority of the article is a joke, there’s not even any information on what Wikipedia is actually protesting. When I say joke, I mean that they’re actually trying to turn this serious issue into a laughing matter. Is this really what journalism has come to? This is a perfect example as to why we need our internet to stay open. This single article highlights the “quality” of mainstream media today.

Click here for a list with screenshots of sites blacking out today.

January 18th, 2012 is the day that Reddit will be shutting their website down for 12 hours in protest of SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act.) I believe this makes Reddit the first major website to shut down in protest, however, websites including Google, Yahoo!, Wikipedia, and others are also considering blacking out their websites in protest of SOPA/PIPA.

Update: Boing Boing to join the blackout.

What’s so wrong with SOPA/PIPA? Although presented to stop online privacy piracy, they can (and likely will) be abused to hinder freedom of expression, while hardly preventing online piracy at all. The video below explains it quite well…

From my point of view as a developer, I can clearly see that not only will these acts completely and utterly fail to prevent online privacy piracy, but they will only help to make the internet worse. Are we really willing to give up our freedom for the sake of entertainment companies making an extra buck? US citizens need to do protest this. The future of the internet depends on you.

I don’t agree with music and movie piracy, artists definitely should be paid for their work. However, copying music and movies isn’t technically theft. Theft would be the result of someone taking the work away from another person, whereas copying creates a second piece of that work. Yes, the artist may lose a sale, but copying is not theft. I am not justifying piracy, but I do believe that most true artists care more about sharing their work than making money from it, and so I ask myself – is it really worth giving up these fundamental freedoms because of this issue?

I believe, and encourage others, to pay for the music, shows, and movies they love. Why? Because the more money that goes to the artists that you love, the more work like that will be created and flourish.

The internet is a 21st century telephone. It allows people to communicate on a scale never seen before, learn on a scale never seen before, and has brought democracy to a scale never seen before. There are terrible issues in this world that are going on right now, such as the 30,000 children that die every day due to poverty and curable diseases. Is it worth hindering our ability to communicate because entertainment companies don’t want to lose their sales? Taking away our freedom of expression… that’s the real theft.

Oh, by the way, did you know that Lamar Smith, the guy who authored SOPA, is a copyright infringer? Hilarious, I know.