Occupy the internet

The only reason I'm not participating in today's internet blackout is because I don't know enough about coding to feel confident I won't bork my site by tinkering with the template. So I decided to do an awareness type post instead.

A few minutes ago I checked out Twitter and was dismayed to see an author upset with Wikipedia for supporting piracy. I really, really wish that person would educate themselves about what's really going on. No one disputes that piracy and theft are wrong and need to be stopped, but the SOPA and PIPA bills are not the way to do it. Fighting piracy with censorship makes no sense, and that is what these bills would do.

Here's an example of what could happen if these bills become law: for whatever reason, legitimate or otherwise, someone flags my site for pirated content. That's the end of my site, period. No investigation, no oversight, no appeal, no chance to either remove content or prove that I was falsely accused. It's just gone. For someone like me, that would devastate my online presence and therefore my ability to sell my books. For someone hosting torrented material, well, they could probably have another site set up by the end of the business day.

Last night I read an interview on CNN with Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales. The whole thing is worth reading, please take a look. I'd like to point out this paragraph from Wales:

Within our community we're very strong defenders of copyright. We have very strict rules about obeying copyright and we don't link to materials that we know to be copyright infringement. That isn't really the issue. The other side will try to paint this as anybody who's opposed to this must be making money off of piracy or be in favor of piracy. That isn't true. The issue here is that this law is very badly written, very broadly overreaching and, in at least the Senate version, would include the creation of a DNS (domain name system) blocking regime that's technically identical to the one that's used by China. I don't think that's the right way the U.S. needs to go in taking a leadership role on the Internet.

Emphasis mine. This is a perfect example of why people are protesting these bills: the intention of the bills may be noble, but the language and execution are the stuff of First Amendment nightmares. Those of us who are protesting and signing petitions do not support piracy at all. What we do support is a free and open UNCENSORED internet. A better written bill, with much more targeted language, would have my support and no doubt the support of most of both the internet and the creative community. SOPA and PIPA would do far more damage than good and if enacted we would not recognize the internet left in their wake. But apparently China would. Does the United States of America, a country with freedom of speech enshrined in our founding documents and woven indelibly into our national DNA, really want to find itself alongside the likes of China and other countries that censor the internet?

I don't think that's what any of us want. Please educate yourself about these issues, let your voice be heard, and most of all, remember this is an election year. A candidate who doesn't believe in the First Amendment is not a candidate worth voting for.