(Future Violation of SOPA, from http://sopastrike.com/strike)
The Stop Online Privacy--er--Piracy Act is making its way through Congress. SOPA. Today is a good day to stop Congress from, well, being themselves again.
One of the problems with our current governing bodies is that they really want to control things, to make them right. What's worse, they think they can legislate against all objectionable activity and handle any unintended back-door consequences through amendments. Ironically, it's the same group that talks about how government is too big. This same group will point to a health care bill or the tax code and tell you how many pages long it is. Then, they will turn around and draft bills that are even longer.
You never account for all the problems. Heck, you never account for all the idiots! "We're for freedom, as long as it's the right kind of freedom." I'm still holding out hope that one of the presidential candidates goes so far as to say those words. True entertainment is so hard to find...
Democracy is a good thing, but the problem with our government is that it is run by the kind of people who have enough money to do so. Congress is not a representative sample of this country. State legislators are similar. These are not people who blog, who send interesting photos from the internet to their friends, who share a song or short video with their families. Typically, they have "people" to do that for them.
The National Institute for Technology in Liberal Education (NITLE) had a nationwide "impromptu discussion" on this topic as it was becoming a real threat, "Bad news for higher education: SOPA, discussed." Props to my colleagues at NITLE for seeing threats like this on the horizon. If you live in the higher education world, it's a good read from a good discussion:
Techne » Bad news for higher education: SOPA, discussed.
Wordpress is "censored" today. I thought my computer had a virus, but it seems Wordpress is helping Fight for the Future, an online advocacy group, make a point.
Point taken.
I hate online petitions, but this one is worth signing. Today. I wish this advocacy group, Fight for the Future, continued success in their efforts to alarm Americans. You can't base policy on, "Oh, I'm sure they wouldn't go that far..." It's pretty obvious from recent experience that they will. That should ring true no matter your political leanings.
Here is a screen shot of today's Wordpress front page:
I suppose posting this would be a violation of SOPA, as well. That would be ironic, but not surprising.
Congress needs to back off here, but America needs to act. I've learned that in politics, anyway, numbers matter most. This online petition has the potential to be the biggest in history. Hit this link, take 20 seconds, and tell people that you at least tried to stop this foolishness.
http://sopastrike.com/strike
