Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) are clear violations of our Constitutional rights. In the United States of America, people have the right to free speech and education. Censorship is a violation of those rights. The Internet is said to be the most important technological advancement of our time. Its strength lies in its open architecture and its ability to allow a framework where all voices can be heard (Savage, 2012). Our access to information was attempted to be regulated in the past. Our freedoms were fought for with blood and sacrifice. The internet is a representation of that freedom. It democratizes information and power. To lose that is the end of freedom as we know it. .
Internet Censorship.
The United States Congress recently reviewed two major pieces of legislation that, if passed, will have monumental effects on the information highway. The bills are Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA). If these bills pass, The United States will emulate the likes of China and Iran in censoring the Internet. This action will threaten to destroy the online world as we know it and limit our freedoms. .
SOPA and PIPA seek to make it a felony to knowingly and unknowingly share copyrighted information. These two bills seek to restrict the information that is currently freely shared on the internet. If passed, the bills would remove the Constitutional right of free speech and restrict free access on the internet. These bills give large powerful corporations, such as Disney and other media giants, control over much of the internet's content (Shirkey, 2012). Any websites not deemed fit to be safe under these bills, will be shut down. .
The internet site YouTube estimates they have 490 million users each month (YouTube, 2012). This site allows users to view a multitude of video clips.