SOPA, or the Stop Online Piracy Act, is a bill being debated in congress at the moment. PIPA (PROTECT IP, or in full, Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act), is a similar act also in debate. These are designed to prevent online piracy. Sounds good? Its not.

The bills are far too wide ranging. They give companies the power to take down a website via DNS blocking if it has the 'potential to enable copyright infringement'. This makes sites with user-generated content liable for takedown due to actions by its users - places like YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, imgur, Megaupload, Wikipedia and us.

Even worse is that a lot of attention is being given to SOPA - even as far as having some of the worst parts removed - and diverted from PIPA, which is just as bad in reality. Do not let SOPA's decline allow PIPA to pass.

Need more information? See the following links:

*[https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2012/01/how-pipa-and-sopa-violate-white-house-principles-supporting-free-speech EFF - How PIPA and SOPA Violate White House Principles Supporting Free Speech and Innovation]
*[http://americancensorship.org/ Stop American Censorship]
*YouTube: [http://youtu.be/JhwuXNv8fJM WTF is SOPA ? aka The American Government trying to ruin the internet - Totalhalibut]
*Wikipedia articles on [[wikipedia:Stop Online Piracy Act|SOPA]] and [[wikipedia:PROTECT IP act|PIPA]]

==What can I do?==
If you are an American, you should get in contact with your representative. You can write to him/her directly, or you can use one of many websites to help:
*[https://action.eff.org/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8336 EFF]
*[http://americancensorship.org/ Stop American Censorship]

If you are not American, you can sign a petition to the US state department (see Stop American Censorship link above, bottom of page). And, more importantly, you can help raise awareness. Spread the word around. If you have any American friends, convince them to contact their representative.