Blog 1: So What, SOPA?

At some point of your day for these past few days, you have probably seen posts on your Facebook timeline regarding SOPA. Even if you don't know exactly what is SOPA's purpose, you should already be under the impression that the majority of internet users are against it. In a recent article entitled "SOPA Support Goes Sour", the author explains how global names are taking action to show that they do not support SOPA. Major internet sites such as Wikipedia and Google have temporarily blocked users from viewing their content to act as a opposition to the proposed legislation. Even Congress members have already publicly announced that they will not vote for SOPA.

So why are major names and companies speaking out against SOPA? From a social standpoint, if this legislation is passed, it will censor a vast majority of the content on the internet. In a nutshell, if a website is not sanctioned by the government, it will be deemed illegal and the persons who are involved with the posting of the content would face the appropriate consequences. Freedom of speech and expression would then become a thing of the past as Americans would have basically their lives censored.

As more and more names are fighting the fight against SOPA, the smaller the threat SOPA appears to be. Even though SOPA has been downplayed in the past couple of days, the potential legislation is still active, and won't be declined until Congress either officially approves or disapproves the law.