Today, many, many organizations and web sites are protesting the Stop Online Piracy Act or S.O.P.A.

From Google’s black bars to Wikipedia going down for an entire day, people are trying to get the word out that this bill is not something they want passed.

For those of you who have been living under a rock, the S.O.P.A Act, if passed, would authorize the U.S. Department of Justice to seek court orders against websites  accused of infringing on copyrights, or of enabling copyright infringement whether the site is based in the United State or not.

Sounds like a noble idea, right?

Wrong.

This bill doesn’t just stop things like illegal web torrent web sites, this bill stops ANYTHING that that an entertainment company views as piracy.  The bill’s wording is so vague that that it would allow a company to shut down an ENTIRE website simply for having an uploaded video they don’t like.  For example, if a  gamer records himself playing a game and puts it on youtube, the game company that published the game could instantly shut down all of youtube  simply because of this one video if they wanted to say it was copyright infringement.  They want to make streaming a felony!

For those looking for more information, the entire bill is here.  Even if you don’t read the bill, I  urge you to call your representative in congress and tell them to vote this bill down.  Otherwise the internet as we know and love it might be gone forever.