If you were on Swaggrabber last night you probably noticed the big black screen.  This wasn’t an error, SwagGrabber joined thousands of websites (Wikipedia, Reddit, and more) that went dark in protest of SOPA/PIPA.  This is very damaging legislation that could change OUR Internet. Hopefully by doing this you got a taste of what it would be like with no sites like mine.

In case you haven’t heard, there are two bills called SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) in the works right now.  If these bills pass, it could put website owners such as myself out of business.  Under SOPA and PIPA, sites such as mine, which use photos under the Fair Use Act could be targeted for copyright infringement and shut down with no warning, no proof and no chance to defend ourselves or even face up to 5 years jail time.

Your favorite internet forums, which all contain user generated content could be shut down for copyright infringement. Youtube would be no more. Facebook would be gone as would sites like Reddit, Craigslist, Tumblr and more. For you bloggers, imagine your blogs no longer listed in Google’s search rankings because Google was forced to remove your links if you were accused of Copyright Infringement.

My hope is that you will write your Congressman, sign petitions, and anything else you can think of to voice your opposition of this bill.  If sites like mine are gone you will be back to paying full price and NO FREEBIES.  Seriously, can you imagine a world without freebies or free Internet?

For more information on SOPA, please read THIS article on Mashable. For a list of contact information for your local Congressman, visit HERE.

ABOUT SOPA & PIPA

The House of Representatives are considering a bill called the Stop Online Piracy Act, H.R. 3261, while the Senate is drafting the Protect IP Act. Both have the support of the record companies and Hollywood studios. They allege web piracy is harming their business and is costing their employees their jobs.

Website owners (such as myself) worry the laws will harm free speech. The White House also said it does not support the bill, although the President did not say he plans on vetoing it.

SOPA, which is practically identical to its Senate counterpart, is described as a bill “to promote prosperity, creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation by combating the theft of US property, and for other purposes.”

To do that, the bill authorizes the Department of Justice and the Attorney General to seek court orders against any websites outside the U.S. accused of infringing on various copyrights, like songs, movies or TV shows. The Attorney General could also keep search engines, like Google or Bing, from showing links to those sites.

According to an open letter from Harvard Law professor Laurence Tribe, SOPA will “undermine the openness and free exchange of information at the heart of the Internet. And it would violate the First Amendment.”

Via Mashable