I wasn’t sure before how effective today’s Internet protest would prove to be, but already I’ve hit on a few sites this morning that are active in the protest, such as Wikipedia, Reddit and Mozilla. Many others, such as Wordpress are playing the video explaining what SOPA is and what it’s impact could be on the Internet.
To begin with, I was slightly ambivalent about this legislation, but actually my personal view, and I must stress it is my personal view, is that this is horrendous legislation that should be stopped.
Online democracy is essential for the Internet to continue to flourish, drive innovation and help promote democracy throughout the world. Anything that controls what is published, will only lead to big corporations and governments shutting down smaller sites on the basis of IP fraud, but this will stifle competition and reduce freedom of expression and it needs to be stopped.
The Internet has its faults, and yes it can cause can concern at times, but at it’s heart is freedom of expression and democracy, these are incredibly important values that need to be protected at all costs.
