Related

• Apple Is Still World’s Most Valuable Brand, Google Drops One Place
• China Approves Google – Motorola Deal, Wants Android To Remain Open Source
• AT&T to lower smartphone subsidies and introduce shared data plans
• Nokia’s cash reserves affected by the company’s struggles to regain market share

January 18th is the day when many websites are going to protest against SOPA and PIPA, two proposed laws which will change the internet as we know it in a bad way. Instead of promoting advancements in internet technology, many companies are simply looking to stop online piracy. The problem with these laws is that they involve censorship thus attacking the freedom of the internet. Google, Wikipedia, Reddit, Craigslist, and many other websites have all come up with raising the awareness on SOPA and PIPA.

Although last week the White House has released a statement saying that SOPA is wrong in its current form and it will not be approved, SOPA opponents cannot abandon the fight now. As a result, Reddit was probably the first popular website to announce that it will go through a 12-hour blackout in order to let the world know more about the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act.

Reddit will go down in a couple of hours from 8AM to 8PM, while Wikipedia, the largest online encyclopedia, has already shut down for 24 hours. Wiki’s founder, Jimmy Wales, said that he cannot remain calm about SOPA because this is a serious thing therefore the people must tell the Congress, Senate, White House, and the President that they do not want the law to pass.

Wikipedia has shut down its English pages and now all of them are asking users to “Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge.” As SOPA and PIPA will ruin the free and open internet, Wikipedia urges its readers to contact their elected reps.

Craigslist, another popular website, has shut down for the day, while BoingBoing, a well-known technology website, also decided to join the list of websites that will go down in order to raise the SOPA awareness.

Google has joined the party, however, the search giant hasn’t shut down its engine – instead, Google’s doodle has been censored and there’s a link below the logo which urges readers to ”Tell Congress: Please don’t censor the Web!”

The link takes you to a page where you can take action and sign a petition that will be sent to the Senate. The petition is meant to let the reps know that users want to end piracy, not the liberty of the internet. Censorship is wrong in many ways and if you want to be known as a country that promotes freedom then such bills mustn’t be approved.

The voting will begin next week on January 24th, and although it’s very unlikely that it will pass, SOPA and PIPA will be re-written and “they” will find a way to make internet censorship legal.

In the meantime, Facebook and Twitter have decided not to joint the SOPA protest motivating that they do not interfere with politics. Well, that’s wrong because this time the politics are directly related to them.

In addition, Rupert Murdoch, said that the “internet is not in danger.” Well, what can you say about someone who hacked into someone’s phones? And these aren’t allegations, because everything has been proven. All websites owned by Murdoch’s News Corp aren’t saying anything about SOPA and PIPA because Murdoch doesn’t want you to know the truth and they will only tell you lots of lies.

Today, start calling your elected reps and tell them that you are against SOPA and PIPA! Melt their phone lines!