SOPA and PIPA are supposed to protect intellectual property, but [...]]]>

Taking a cue from Congress, I've decided to combat a slight smell in the bathroom by cutting off my nose entirely.

If the WordPress plugin I acquired is working correctly – and it being me that’s probably not the case – that means when you visited this site, you saw the message noting my opposition to SOPA and PIPA (the respective Senate and Congressional anti-piracy bills).

SOPA and PIPA are supposed to protect intellectual property, but instead allow for an unprecedented level of censorship. Many of us have wondered aloud how a bill can pass through so many hands and encounter so many revisions and get it all so wrong. A simple explanation might evoke that old adage that a horse by committee becomes a camel, and besides, politicians are out of touch fuddy-duddies, right? But their staffers aren’t, so something is amiss.

What actually happens is that legislation like this is, both figuratively and almost literally, authored by the interested parties that lobby politicians to propose and pass them. In this case, it’s the entertainment industry. Their interest in combating piracy and other violations of intellectual property is not rooted in art and artists but in profits and excuses. They’re not making enough money, and in cases like the MPAA, they don’t want to address the real problems of the movie industry’s woes (a stunning drop in quality control and excessive movie prices that in many cases surpass the price of a concert ticket). It’s the same reason why The Mouse has been able to successfully extend copyright protection looooong past the life expectancy of the artist. Legislation like this doesn’t serve the interests of artists, but of the corporations that acquire the rights of dead ideas and work against the interests of future artists and the public as a whole.

As a result, we now have SOPA and PIPA: legislation that will do untold harm to free speech. Please note that I didn’t say “on the internet,” because we need to think of it as something more than a niche problem. Whether it’s a sign in a demonstration, a political view expressed in a town hall meeting, or something on a website, free speech is free speech. As Americans we have a responsibility to extend and extol its virtues and combat threats to it.

CLICK HERE to contact your representative and tell him/her that you won’t stand for any vote other than no. Your future and your ideals depend upon it.