This Girl's Experience with the Blackout: Internet Censorship

Today has been an interesting day for me.  It started at 5:30am when after doing my morning scripture study I fired up my computer to start working on my book.  An e-mail popped up from the soaping forum I belong to telling me I had a message on one of the forums I posted to. When I went to look at it I received another message telling me that the site was shut down today because they were on strike against internet censorship.  I thought to myself, "fine, I'll just look at it later," and then I went to work on my book.

Well, about an hour later I was deep into the outline for the next couple sequences that I'll be writing in my book and I needed to look up a term to make sure that I was using it correctly.  My usual desktop dictionary that I love to use also has a Wikipedia link where you can do a little more research on the term that you are searching and it just so happens that I desperately needed that function this morning.  Now before I go any further, I will point out that I do know I can go to other sites to search for things and I can even crack open an actual encyclopedia but let's face it. . . I was in a hurry and Wikipedia is just so convenient.  So when I went there, the above picture is what I got.

Ok, so I was a little annoyed.  I enjoy my free speech rights and I am against censorship but I know about the SOPA (H.R. 3261) and the Protect IP Act (Senate Bill 968) and I didn't need someone to be shoving it down my throat (which actually is their right because of the First Amendment of the constitution)

Well, because I do like to be an informed citizen and not just follow the whims of what is popular, I swallowed the bait and started some reading.  I read articles on what people were saying about it.  I went to the Drudge Report.  I went to the local radio talk show's web site to see if anyone was talking about it there.  I read the summaries of the bills.  And then after reading these things, I tried to go back to my day and live my life.

Then it came up again.

I went to check on my etsy shop and support for the blackout was there.  It didn't interfere with my ability to work, but it was still there reminding me of the possibilities that could happen if these things pass.  I went to look something up on Google and their logo was blacked out giving their support.  And then, just for kicks, I checked out a number of other sites that I frequently go to and with the exception of the site for my bank and a government operated site for filing my business sales taxes with them, all were showing their support in one form or another for the blackout and against censorship of the internet.

I think that they accomplished something.  "They," the large number of sites that I frequent and have come to rely upon, accomplished disrupting my day and grudgingly getting me to think more about SOPA and the Protect IP Act.  Bravo.  Well played.  But will it be enough?  I wonder sometimes if people are making "much ado about nothing," because supposedly it wouldn't effect the regular common people like me who express my opinions through a blog or any other regular forms of internet activity.  But then I also have to think about this. . . where would it stop?  If "they," the government, can regulate what sites are allowed to operate or what shows up in search engines, then what else in the name of "the greater good" would they then begin to regulate?  These bills aren't about the censorship of the people per say, but it could be a very dangerous start.

How about this, instead of censoring the internet, or anything for that matter, why not just go after the people who commit the crime?  I know that some of the guilty are in other countries, so work with those countries to stop acts of piracy or other thefts of intellectual property.  I know this is all easier said then done but there has to be a way of handling this situation without it ultimately leading to internet censorship in the end.

Our first amendment right to free speech is not something we should take for granted.  This right is one of the fundamental things that makes the United States of America such a wonderful place to be. And it's not just the right to free speech but every other right granted to us in the constitution.   It's our duty as American citizens to protect these rights and I believe that our freedom of speech is the tool by which we are able to protect our rights and help to make the country, and world a better place.  So stand up and pay attention to what's happening not just with SOPA and the Protect IP Act, but with everything.  We should never become so apathetic or lazy that we let our great country be taken from us and we should never, ever give up any bit of our right to speak our own minds.