THIS IS NOT A BOOK POST- SOPASTRIKE!

Scary image, yeah? This is a very real threat though. SOPA and PIPA are bills in the US House and Senate respectively. Proponents of the bills say they are supposed to combat piracy, however what they will really do is change the way the internet works. And not in good ways. We are joining together today to protest these bills and help give a real idea of what your virtual life could be like under the provisions of these bills. Many sites are going dark, and I contemplated that. However, I am participating in a blog hop right now, and I feel like going dark would be unfair to those people who set up the hop. So instead I decided to do a post about it.

If you want a great article about why SOPA/PIPA is so bad, check out this one. More than this, as a blogger I will be held responsible for every picture, every book trailer, every comment that ever gets posted on this blog! It's not unbelievable that someone could take offense to a review, post a comment with some copyrighted material,  and report my blog. My blog is then gone. I am held responsible for copyright infringement. And there is no due process or questions asked.

There are also technical issues with the bills. I'm no expert on that, but I am married to someone who is. To say he is not a fan of these bills would be putting it lightly. And he's not the only one who is concerned. When you have people like Google telling you this will be enormously bad for the internet as a whole, you need to step up and listen. Congress is messing with things that they have no clue about.

On top of all this, SOPA was shelved. This is a good thing right? Well, for now. However, the original sponsor is threatening to bring it back to life. PIPA is still alive and well at any rate. The amazing thing is that no one I have talked to even supports this bill. Republican, Democrat, or anything in-between, I have yet to see someone say anything positive about this bill except the members of Congress supporting it and their benefactors. Who are they? Big media. They are throwing a lot of money behind this bill to try and get it shoved through.

So what can you do? The biggest thing is to CONTACT YOUR REPRESENTATIVES! Check out this page to see who represents you. Call them, write them, let them know this is not acceptable. Also, join us today to raise awareness. Let everyone you know what we are up against. Another great site is americancensorship.org. It explains things way better than I ever can. If you are so inclined, you can read the entirety of SOPA as well. Everything you do can make a difference. Let's work together to keep the internet open and free.