BLOG: Net Neutrality

Net Neutrality is a huge deal. Without it, the internet would follow along the same ideas that we fought so hard to protect with SOPA and PIPA.

For the benefit of others, I'll post the wiki links to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), with which it goes hand in hand.

You can think of it like this. You know YouTube's policy of removing a video based on a claim of copyright infringement from literally anyone? And you know how it's then the accused's responsibility to prove they aren't violating copyright before the video is put back up?
SOPA and PIPA were basically trying to codify that policy into US law. For entire websites. An entire website could be pulled down because someone--anyone--said they were violating copyright, and it would be the accused's responsibility to prove they weren't. That would be disastrous for the internet, and a complete reversal of that "innocent until proven guilty" thing the US has been doing for a few hundred years.

Reddit, Wikipedia, Google, and several other websites (I can't remember the exact list, but here's an article I found about it) took their sites completely offline for a day in protest, and replaced them with messages explaining the law and what could be done to oppose them. Many more sites placed large banners on their site (Amazon being one I remember off the top of my head) explaining their opposition without taking their websites down.

Fortunately, the bills were defeated, but they're constantly being resubmitted under different names. It would be good for society if you educated yourself, tried to educate others, and opposed legislation like it. Google is an advocate to protect your rights, in general, and you can Take Action with a few easy clicks of a button, like this one Google offers.

Please stand with me in supporting the protection of Net Neutrality. The future of the internet literally depends on it!

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