In case you’ve been living under a rock, check out this video from Fight for the Future explaining the new bill: SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act.

The bill’s concept is to give the power to large Hollywood entertainment corporations to sue any website that has ANY copywritten material on it, whether it’s posted by the website owners, or its users. The government would have the power to block these sites, would force search engines to blacklist these sites, and would block advertising revenue from going to these sites.

The potential for abuse of power here is enormous. Watch the video, it succinctly explains why this is a dangerous bill, how it’s gained traction from lobbyists, and what you need to do to be heard.

Under SOPA, we would have to police and censor anyone commenting on this blog, who posts links to anything… for fear that our site would be blocked. Facebook and Twitter would have to censor you as well. All so Justin Bieber gets his money.

Frankly, I’m not censoring any readers. So, under SOPA, it’d just be a matter of time before this site would go away.

This bill is close to passing. Annoy the hell out of your congressman, make your voice heard while you can.

I leave you with this infographic:

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Ricky Salsberry is an interactive designer working in Chicago and the editor of The Donut Project. In his spare time he reads/rants about technology, watches hockey, wrecks his bike, and designs some more.