the Informer

Facebook, Tumblr, Twitter, MySpace, all of these would not exist how we know it if the Protect IP Act, or PIPA, passes.

As Americans today, we are kind of spoiled with how we treat our social networks and access to information. However, if PIPA passes through the government, the whole world, as we know it will change.

PIPA, along with its cousin bill, SOPA or the stop online copyright piracy bill, are currently in the Senate to be voted on. The problem is that PIPA’s authority is so large and vague that it would give corporations unprecedented power to abuse our current Internet freedoms.

In short, PIPA would introduce widespread online censorship and threaten the existence of many websites such as Tumblr and Facebook, and even put people in prison for assessing certain content online.

What is our world coming to? Are we this much of a mess that we are beginning to ruin everything our country stands for? Our founding fathers would be rolling in their graves.

It’s not just little things anymore. This is clearly against our constitutional rights of freedom of press and freedom of speech. I don’t understand how anyone in the government could find this bill ok.

We are not communists. We have never been one to outright kill the rights of our citizens.

When I first heard about PIPA through my personal usage of Tumblr, I was confused and very angry. As a statement, Tumblr blocked out whole sections of posts on people’s Dashboards, kind of like a News Feed to Facebook for those who do not know Tumblr. Tumblr then opened a page that set up users to call their local representative and make their statement against PIPA and SOPA.

With that, Tumblr did a historic thing. They made 87,834 calls to state representatives against PIPA, which totaled in 1,293 hours talking to representatives. We can stand up against the government and make a difference.

Every person counts and our voices can be heard. We really cannot allow things like PIPA and SOPA to pass in our government, Being a watchdog on the government is more important than ever in times such as these.

I don’t know about anyone else, but I appreciate more than ever my freedom on the Internet. The Internet opens up a world of opinions, information and knowledge that cannot be learned anywhere else.

Seeing the black blocks on Tumblr and realizing before my eyes the difference a bill like PIPA and SOPA would make, kicked me into gear. I used the Tumblr effort to make a call to my representative and put in my own words.

What really does worry me the most is the very existence of this bill. What other constitutional rights will future bills try and erase? It makes me lose confidence in our government and give a bleak outlook to the future. As a person who would like to stay American, it greatly saddens me. So let’s band together as a country and let our voices be heard, loud and clear.