Have You Heard of the Protect IP and Stop Online Piracy Acts? They May Affect More than You Think.

November 16th marked the start of the hearings for what are becoming known as the Internet Blacklist Bills, the Protect IP Act in the Senate, and the Stop Online Privacy Act in the House. If passed, a massive number of restrictions will be placed upon internet usage in the United States. It's a reasonable concept to try to stop piracy, but when entire sites can be shut down for offending links and streaming of copyrighted content can be charged as a felony with a potential 5 year jail term, it's gone too far. Imagine Facebook being shut down because a small group of users posting. In addition, it makes the websites responsible for policing all content on their websites, which would indicate severely limited privacy. See AmericanCensorship.org for information on how you can contribute, and for more information on the acts.