If you don’t know by now (hard to believe you wouldn’t, with the internet blackout of so many sites on Jan. 18th) a US house bill (HR3261) threatens the freedom of the internet as we know it. Being a creative I am all for a bill that helps protect the intellectual property of content creators, but this bill as its written doesn’t give me or the little guy any power to protect my/your work, it is written to help larger corporations like Sony, Disney, RIAA, MPAA, Universal, etc. combat piracy.

This bill will potentially be the beginning of internet censorship in the US. It will give the copyright holders the power to shut down a site just for linking to a site that has copyrighted material. The bill gives companies the power to shut a site down without due process, which means a start-up who is shut down can no longer generate revenue through advertising which can eventually lead to a halt in the growth of the tech community. In an age of information, those jobs are valuable.

Imagine this, it’s 2005 the SOPA bill is already passed, The social network Facebook is gaining steam and popularity. One of its user’s posts copyrighted material. The MPAA claims it is infringing on a copyright and all of Facebook is shut down, simply because every user shares the same root domain (HTTP://www.facebook.com/USERNAME). The 3000+ people that Facebook employs are out of a job. Now imagine this happening to every web start-up that rears it’s head. That can lead to 100′s of thousands of future jobs lost, advancements in technology being thwarted and can also lead to abuse of the SOPA bill by crushing competition and never giving them the chance to defend themselves.

Maybe it is time for a way to protect intellectual properties on the internet, but not if it means losing the right to free speech, creative expression, and freedom on the internet.

KEEP THE INTERNET FREE.

The SOPA discussion has been put on hold until February but we still need to watch, listen closely and let your voice be heard on this issue.

For more info on SOPA
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act
http://americancensorship.org/
http://americancensorship.org/

Video credits:
Produced and edited by Chase Whiteside (interviews), Erick Stoll (camera), and Liz Cambron.
Graphic design by Chase Whiteside.
Motion design by Ashley Walton (ashleywalton.com).
Music from Nicolas Jaar’s brilliant debut album Space is Only Noise.