reasons why SOPA/PIPA are tools of the devil you may or may not believe in

i'm up on my soapbox today.  since i don't know how to blackout my blog for a day (not like anyone would care either) i've decided to use it to try and spread the word, yo.

the word of SOPA/PIPA and how they will break the internet.  seriously.

first, let me make sure we all get what SOPA/PIPA are.  check out this awesome video with chad vader and our pal jenny the bloggess:  

got that?  okay, onto the next.  check out what everyone's favorite search engine google has to say about SOPA/PIPA: https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

and our gal nicki who does the loaded handbag happened to write an excellent article about SOPA/PIPA which you can find here: What Your World Will Look Like if SOPA Passes (Hint: It’s Not Pretty)

and finally, http://www.blackoutsopa.org/ has some great information and links to your congresspeople. 

get on it, people.  please contact your representatives and tell them you do not support SOPA and PIPA.  email them.  call their offices.  tweet them.  facebook them.  and tell your friends to do the same.  or the next time you link a youtube video of your favorite song on facebook, you may be breaking the law.

i want to include a comment i made on jenny's blog earlier today.  i'm totally pirating myself - and i'm okay with that.

to any artists who have commented that online piracy costs you money, we get it. online piracy is a problem that costs many artists time and money – often, time and money that they don’t have. but what sopa/pipa will do won’t solve the problem of online piracy. they’ll just break the internet and censor everyone. 

i’m an artist, too. and without sites like facebook, twitter, youtube, blogger, pinterest, and etsy, i’d never be able to share or sell my art. if sopa/pipa were put into law, those websites may never exist again – or will be so heavily censored that many artists will be unable to use them for sharing/selling their art.

yes, online piracy is a problem. but would you rather support censorship of art, or get paid? i know we all need to get paid – but the art community cannot support censorship. yes, i’d love to get paid – but i’d prefer to keep the community open, honest, and UNCENSORED BY THE GOVERNMENT.