Say no to SOPA and PIPA

We believe in freedom in a lot of ways at Code d'Or: freedom to express yourself, freedom to talk about the things you want, freedom to be able to do what you want, publish and read what you want, ... At the same time, freedom is not absolute of course, but still - the spirit of the thing is that we should try to be as free as possible, in any sense of the word.

And then comes a new piece of legislature in the United States, which has been abbreviated for convenience as SOPA and PIPA. As a protest, a lot of popular websites are up in arms and are participitating in an Internet blackout for one day.

From Wikipedia: 

SOPA and PIPA represent two bills in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate respectively. SOPA is short for the "Stop Online Piracy Act," and PIPA is an acronym for the "Protect IP Act." ("IP" stands for "intellectual property.") In short, these bills are efforts to stop copyright infringement committed by foreign web sites, but, in our opinion, they do so in a way that actually infringes free expression while harming the Internet. Detailed information about these bills can be found in the Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act articles on Wikipedia, which are available during the blackout. GovTrack lets you follow both bills through the legislative process: SOPA on this page, and PIPA on this one. The EFF has summarized why these bills are simply unacceptable in a world that values an open, secure, and free Internet.

The values of copyright, in all kinds of forms, can be debated, sure. There is even something to be said for copyright, in some way, even if we're not totally convinced at this point. But one thing is for sure - we're 100% certain that this legislation is detrimental to a free and open internet, and is diametrically opposite of what a free and open society should stand for. We therefore strongly condemn SOPA and PIPA as a legislative work, and hope that the people in power in the United States finally get some sense, and block both pieces of law.

And if reading textual content is too much to bother with - here's a video explaining the whole law, and while at first it seems reasonable to protect IP, SOPA and PIPA is no way to do it properly ...

PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.

More information can be found on Slashdot as well.