Today is a massive day of protests on the internet.
I have discovered already that the companies I work for, Goldenfrog and Data Foundry, have put “censored” tags over their logos. Google blacked out their main logo. Wikipedia replaced the entire English-language version of the website with a black protest page. Wired censored their website. I’m a little surprised that Facebook doesn’t have “censored” put all over their front page.
The best part of the protests is that now most everyone on the internet is forced to actually take notice that there is something so greatly wrong that companies that form critical parts of our internet are screaming and throwing around enough weight to say “this has to stop now”.
The merits and flaws of the bill I can’t exactly say. Everything I know is from analysis by other people. I tried to read Protect IP yesterday and actually could not make any sense of it. I still have a few comments.
Lamar Smith, the congressman who wrote the bill and probably the biggest supporter of the bill, keeps insisting that the law will never be used against American websites. This is fundamentally a lie. The companies that have the money to push this bill through will never stay their hand just because the target website is American, nor will the courts stop them. We already know that the big music and movie companies illegally lay claim copyright claims on works that they don’t own and works in the public domain, but the mass media doesn’t publicize this. All of the enforcement power is basically in the hands of the people who have the money, and they do not have your interests in mind.
So, yes. Protest.
And then, make the protest real. Do something radical. Vote. With your money.
Stop watching movies put out by the motion picture industry.
Stop listening to music put out by the major record labels.
Don’t buy their work. Don’t pirate their work.
Vote all the SOPA and PIPA supporters out of office.
If you can’t do it perfectly, do the best you can.
Consuming their work in any way, whether you paid for it or not, keeps you in their trap. Instead, find a local musician who is struggling to make ends meet. Find a small independent film company that has a good idea but doesn’t have the money for flashy visual effects or high profile stars. Take your money to them.
Or just stop consuming altogether. Go for a bike ride. Walk your dog. Catnip the cats. Hack some code. Write a poem or compose a song or photograph a snowfield. Make something. It doesn’t matter whether it is amazing or crap. If you’ve never made anything before, your first work will be crap. That’s inevitable and it’s a part of the learning curve that most of society taught you is bad. Fuck that. Get out there, make something, then try to make something better. Spend your time creating, not consuming. And keep doing it even when those companies try to silence you.
Withhold your money and your attention from companies that seek to do you harm. Let them drain their coffers on lawyers and lobbyists when they should be innovating. Spend your money and your attention on supporting your art, your friends art, and the art of the people in your city.
You set yourself, and the people around you, free.
All of you in Austin remember last year. For those of you not in Austin, suffice it to say that I have never seen such an extensive drought.
