If you haven’t checked out the online pin board Pinterest yet, get on it. It’s seriously the best resource for homemaking I’ve ever found — from cooking, to crafting, to gift ideas, to sewing, it’s one of the best user generated content sites on the Web (technical hiccups aside, anyway). If you need an invite, I’ll be happy to send you one.
But it IS based around user generated content. And that means the site only has nominal control over what is posted there. If the new Internet Blacklist acts SOPA and PIPA pass, all it will take is one person pinning a copyrighted image or a photo of something trademarked to shut down the ENTIRE SITE. The same goes for Facebook, Etsy, Twitter, Vimeo, YouTube, and every blog with a commenting system you’ve ever visited.
This is not good, people. Like, seriously not good. Do you realize how much harder it will be for innovators to use the Web if they have to worry about Big Brother shutting them down on a whim? Not only that, but where there’s a Web, there’s a way, and it’s pretty well certain that people will find ways around the locked down U.S. Internet, meaning the Web will become fractured and harder to keep safe. It will be like the early days of the Web all over again, only with experienced hackers on the job and billions of frustrated users trying to figure out “which Internet” to use to get the information they need.
Quite frankly, it scares me. I’m part of a generation that has taken to the Internet like a second home. I have friends here I can’t reasonably keep in contact with anywhere else. I have a business based almost entirely in cyberspace. I do my research here, learn new skills, and expand my worldview.
In short, this needs to be stopped. It just does. The whole concept sucks, and it wouldn’t work anyway because people will eventually find a way around it, for better or worse.
Much smarter, more articulate people than I have put together fantastic resources for quickly understanding what’s going on here. Infographics, short videos, long articles — pretty much however you want to learn, it’s there. Please, get informed. And then, if you feel the way I do, do something. It takes less than a minute to email your representative or petition the U.S. government.
Pinterest, Etsy, & Your Other Favorite Sites Threatened by SOPA
If you haven’t checked out the online pin board Pinterest yet, get on it. It’s seriously the best resource for homemaking I’ve ever found — from cooking, to crafting, to gift ideas, to sewing, it’s one of the best user generated content sites on the Web (technical hiccups aside, anyway). If you need an invite, I’ll be happy to send you one.
But it IS based around user generated content. And that means the site only has nominal control over what is posted there. If the new Internet Blacklist acts SOPA and PIPA pass, all it will take is one person pinning a copyrighted image or a photo of something trademarked to shut down the ENTIRE SITE. The same goes for Facebook, Etsy, Twitter, Vimeo, YouTube, and every blog with a commenting system you’ve ever visited.
This is not good, people. Like, seriously not good. Do you realize how much harder it will be for innovators to use the Web if they have to worry about Big Brother shutting them down on a whim? Not only that, but where there’s a Web, there’s a way, and it’s pretty well certain that people will find ways around the locked down U.S. Internet, meaning the Web will become fractured and harder to keep safe. It will be like the early days of the Web all over again, only with experienced hackers on the job and billions of frustrated users trying to figure out “which Internet” to use to get the information they need.
Quite frankly, it scares me. I’m part of a generation that has taken to the Internet like a second home. I have friends here I can’t reasonably keep in contact with anywhere else. I have a business based almost entirely in cyberspace. I do my research here, learn new skills, and expand my worldview.
In short, this needs to be stopped. It just does. The whole concept sucks, and it wouldn’t work anyway because people will eventually find a way around it, for better or worse.
Much smarter, more articulate people than I have put together fantastic resources for quickly understanding what’s going on here. Infographics, short videos, long articles — pretty much however you want to learn, it’s there. Please, get informed. And then, if you feel the way I do, do something. It takes less than a minute to email your representative or petition the U.S. government.
DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT