SOPA affects us all. It is the modern equivalent of the ruling class being freaked out about moveable type, and their attempt to silence our voices.
Today is SOPA Blackout Day. Many gaming websites and internet communities are blacking out their sites in strike of the legislation. Obviously, we're not doing that because you're reading this.
I've written about SOPA in the past to explain what it means for the gaming community, and will continue to do so as long as it remains a threat to our freedom of expression over the internet.
I quote myself:
What is SOPA, exactly? SOPA is a ham-fisted plan to "get rid" of all piracy online. In reality, the law will shut down entire websites for a small infractions. It would also hold advertisers accountable for the content of these websites. A website based on user-generated content like YouTube and Reddit could not possibly exist in this climate. The bill would also prohibit search engines like Google from linking to many websites. The only websites unaffected by the law would belong to the larger industries—the proponents of the SOPA bill.
Due to the way SOPA is written, we are not simply looking at an internet with no silly videos of cats (heaven forfend it should pass). We're also looking at an internet in which everything is accountable to censorship. A similar law was passed in China in 1998 and put into effect in 2003, which resulted in the creation of the so-called "Great Firewall of China," or the Golden Shield Project. The law has since been used by the Chinese government to clamp down on political speech and arrest "difficult" citizens for infringing the broadly written law.
I do not believe in preaching to the choir, and I believe that all of my readers—that's all of you—are already aware of what SOPA is and share my apprehension for the bill. With that in mind, I will use this day to promote coverage of the strike, efforts against SOPA, and the gaming industry's response to SOPA, both on Gameranx and on my personal Twitter account.
If you live in the United States of America, I urge you to write to your member of Congress, or to the White House. You may be but one small voice, but you will not be alone.
