 "Photo: Wired.com")
On Oct 26, 2011, Republican Representative Lamar Smith of Texas introduced Bill 3261 to the House of Representatives. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) was proposed in an effort to combat online copyright infringement by keeping advertising and payment companies from partaking in business transactions with websites accused of infringement, removing the accused websites from search engines, and making it a requirement for internet service providers to block users from accessing the accused websites. If passed, the maximum penalty for copyright infringement would be five years in prison.
Many of those who oppose the bill state that, if passed, the bill would give major organizations such as the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA), Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and the Entertainment Software Association (ESA) the power to shut down any website streaming their copyrighted property by filing an infringement complaint against the website. Some have even gone as far as to suggest that a cutthroat company could plant copyrighted material or links to illegally-shared copyrighted material on its competition's websites, and thus snuff out their competition through legal means.
Michael Witham, a Senior studying sociology with a focus in criminal justice, states that he was "dumbfounded" and "flabbergasted" after discovering the "technologically inept and ham-handed bill," and its wording that would allow corporations to silence people. As many others have done to protest the bill, he emailed Indiana Republican Senators Daniel Coats and Richard Lugar and Indiana 1st District Democratic Representative Peter Visclosky to voice his concern and outrage over SOPA. Michael is also boycotting GoDaddy.com, a company supporting the SOPA bill, but says that "it isn't practical to boycott many of the supporters of SOPA [because] they produce the vast majority of the media."
Boycotting the larger companies supporting SOPA such as VISA, Mastercard or Viacom would indeed be very difficult, and the effects of the boycott would only be felt by the companies if thousands were to participate in the boycott.
Getting into contact with a district's Representatives and the Indiana State Senators is the most effective way to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act. Many students, teachers and internet users have changed their Facebook profile pictures to depict an Anti-SOPA image and even more people have signed Google's internet petition to stop the bill, but such online actions have a minimal effect on the outcome of events.
The internet's true power is, and always has been, in its users' ability to instantaneously share information with one another. By entering an appropriate zip code into a search engine such as www.whoismyrepresentative.com, anyone interested can find out who their district Representative and state Senators are.
Sophomore Computer Science major, Alex Fancher, spread the word about SOPA through the use of his Facebook account. Much to his regret, Alex was unable to contact his representative and senators due to the hectic nature of the first week of school, but he adamantly stated that should the bill or a similar bill in SOPA's stead arise in the future, he will make contact with his representatives.
If you have concerns about the Stop Online Piracy Act or anything else going on with your state, you may contact the following senators to voice any complaints.
INDIANA:
Senator Lugar – Phone (219)-548-8035, 175 W Lincolnway Suite G-1, Valparaiso, IN 46383
Senator Coats – Phone (219)-663-2595, 11035 Broadway Suite A, Crown Point, IN 46307
ILLINOIS:
Senator Durbin - Phone: (202)-224-2152, 309 Hart Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510
Senator Kirk - Phone: (202)-224-2854, 387 Russell Senate Office Building Washington, DC 20510
is a member of the 
