The new SOPA and PIPA legislation in the US will mandate Internet search engines, ISPs, social networks and any website with a hyperlink to police all such links. Any infringing website could be shut down because of links to any type of pirated content. This legislation is being pushed by Hollywood and the recording industry, universally recognized (just like the oil and tobacco industries) for their ongoing contribution to human progress and innovation.
Many American internet entrepreneurs will, as a result, likely be outlawed. They will, however, still be able to carry handguns, which is a constitutional right. The founding fathers didn’t yet know about the internet, just as they hadn’t imagined the epidemic of violent crime aggravated by the proliferation of arms.
Today, many Internet icons are banding together to protest the SOPA/PIPA legislation, among them Wikipedia, Flickr, and WordPress. To raise awareness, they have organized a blackout. This is what the WordPress homepage looks like today.
Spooky, don’t you think ?
Wikipedia will shut down for a day as well.
Rather than hammer down my own stance on the matter, which can easily be deduced, and which is further demonstrated in this TED talk by Clay Shirky, I’d suggest that this clever blackout tactic be used to generate awareness on other such matters of global concern.
Imagine a global 4hr blackout on all economic activity. No internet. No shopping. No shipping. No trading. No politics. No lawsuits. No warfare. Only emergency energy consumption. Four hours, distributed during daylight across the time zones, during which every human being on the planet would be invited to do something of lasting human value for him or herself, and for others.
A scary step towards global conscience. The final frontier for freedom.
