Are you ready to have your internet censored?

Freedom of speech online continues to be threatened. The bill has been introduced to congress many times but was yet again put into be looked at.

 The idea behind internet censorship is to control the publishing of information and/or access of information on the internet.  Do we want to allow someone else to tell us what site we can visit, and what we can post? 

 The internet is how our generation communicates. We don’t go sit down and have tea like they used to. Now we get on our cell phones shoot a text or post something to our blog about our daily lives.

We have the ability to post videos as things happen wherever we might be at the time.  It only took minutes when the big quake hit japan before people were on You-tube seeing it first-hand what was really happening.

If this bill passes, it will allow the government to shut down and blacklist websites at its discretion under the guise of hosted pirated material. Ever sing a song on You-tube, that you didn’t write? That will happen no more. Freedom of speech was given to us by the Constitution. Can it be taken away without a fight? 

This is what Nikki Henderson a student here at LBCC had to say, “I feel that it is my right to put what I want on the internet. Its ridicules that they want to sensor what sites I go to or what I put on it. If they are having trouble with kids than don’t let your children on the internet, it’s that simple.”

However, on the other side of the fence, it is a way for the government to help keep our children and ourselves safe. How often do you hear of someone meeting for purchases off craigslist, then you hear something happened?  

The internet allows you to post anything you want about anyone or anything with little to no repercussion.  You can steal something and post it on your facebook or twitter, and no one even thinks a second thought about it if you “didn’t cite your source.”

Yahoo is one of nine Internet companies which publicly oppose the Stop Internet Privacy Act, or SOPA. Yahoo has already canceled its membership in the U.S. Chamber of Commerce over SOPA, and Google is threatening to walk too. According to Terri Allen, “I don’t blame them for walking. This is a big deal, and people are not going to allow this to happen.” 

Large web sites like facebook and Google fear the proposals would invite lawsuits and empower law enforcement to shut down their operations if a copyrighted movie or song appeared on their sites without their authorization, according to the Washington Post. 

The fight is about jobs at this point. They don’t care about our Right to Speech. The government is willing to do anything at this point to help develop jobs, even if that means putting your first amendment rights in jeopardy.