I debated with myself for a long time about whether I should join the internet blackout in protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act. While I feel very strongly about both bills and have made my opposition to them known, it comes down to simple numbers. My site isn’t big enough to have much of an impact in the big scheme of things. I’m not Wikipedia. I’m not Reddit. I’m (sadly) not even Questionable Content. But that doesn’t mean these bills aren’t important, that they don’t affect you directly, and that they don’t matter. They do. If they’re passed, even something as simple as providing links in this post could be considered illegal.

SOPA and PIPA directly effects me, my contemporaries, and anyone who either wants to make a living through the web, who want to get known through the web, or who simply want to find some easily found information through the web. The people who wrote and support these bills either don’t know or willfully don’t care how it’s going to impact people like us, and that’s not right. Contact your congressman or senator today about your feelings on the matter and crush these bills once and for all.

Simply being “shelved” or “re-written” isn’t good enough. These bills need to be THROWN OUT, and we should not accept anything less. Our civil liberties and our livelihoods have been directly threatened by these acts, and this is unforgivable. Thanks to the net, we have more power than every to communicate with one-another. I suggest we use it.