Give me Internet or give me death!

I had to do it. I had to write about it, because I'm just as outraged as most if not all of you who are reading this. I'm talking about two preposterous laws that are attempting to be passed: the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA).  I'm sure anybody reading this that uses any type of social networking has at least remotely heard of these two acronyms.  

Some of you may be asking, what's all the fuss about? Oh nothing … except EVERYTHING we love about the Internet will be removed and taken from within the grasp of our search engines and address bars. I'll explain further: SOPA and PIPA are both supposed to basically make it harder for websites, especially targeting those outside the U.S , to distribute pirated copyrighted products such as movies and music, but also sell tangible goods such as counterfeit purses, watches and other items. It also forbids search engines and other legit websites to show or provide links to said piracy websites.

On Jan. 18Wikipedia, Reddit along with a few other big websites participated in a black out which would give users either a completely offline page or, like Google, just black out the logo and give a link to one of the many online petitions. The past few weeks, my inbox has been filled …and I do mean filled with petitions about stopping this cruelty! Give us our Internet back! Yes, I've signed every one of them.

I thought the bill that gives the army the ability to take away our constitutional right of due process and be detained for an undisclosed amount of time,  the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), would cause more uproar. I guess some people would rather give up their freedom than their internet.   Me? Personally, I like both my freedom to not be arrested without cause and for my Internet to be just as free as it's always been. This bill has led to just about as many photos, parodies, YouTube videos and blog posts as Beyonce's baby and Kim Kardashian's wedding.

 It was like a civil rights movement without the physical marching and yelling. These bills had a good idea or at least good intentions … I think? They're attempting to keep some money in America and counterfeit contraband out. But there are so many drawbacks and loopholes, such as using outside Domain Name Service (DNS) servers and credit cards that are not Visa or Mastercard, that these bills just like Prohibition in the 1920's and 30's is going to fail …horribly. That is my prediction.