Procrastinators beware: you might find your school assignments particularly difficult to complete today.
That’s because Wikipedia has gone dark Wednesday in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) currently being considered in Congress.
And, the popular encyclopedia website is not alone. News and aggregator sites like Reddit and Boing Boing are joining in on the protest, shutting off access to their websites for the better part of the day.
Last semester I wrote about my own thoughts on SOPA and PIPA, expressing my concerns about the sweeping power that the proposed legislation would give to the government to enforce and take down questionable content on the internet.
A multitude of internet giants have also expressed their discontent, like Tumblr, Facebook, Verizon and Twitter.
Google is also adding a message on its home page that says this: “Like many businesses, entrepreneurs and web users, we oppose these bills because there are smart, targeted ways to shut down foreign rogue websites without asking American companies to censor the internet.”
Recently, these websites have been doing a laudable job of informing the public about the ramifications of Congress passing either of these acts. However, a full website blackout is certainly unprecedented.
Millions of people use sites like Wikipedia and Reddit each day, so if the goal is to get people to notice their message, then these websites are certainly doing something right.
However, it’s also important to remember that awareness campaigns like this are not the same thing as activism.
There’s a distinct difference between information and action. Informing the public about the dangers of SOPA and PIPA is only the first step. Ultimately the people who use these websites are not the ones who determine whether or not these laws actually get passed. It’s our elected representatives who will finally decide whether or not SOPA or PIPA will become law.
That’s not to say that ordinary citizens are powerless. Yes, Congress has an 11 percent approval rating right now (the lowest it’s ever been on record, mind you) and yes, our elected officials have a habit of passing misguided (and arguably boneheaded) laws that don’t adequately address the issue they were originally targeting. Most of us are not lawmakers, for better or worse. However, as voters we do and should significantly influence our representatives.
Every elected member of our government, both nationally and locally, can be contacted easily. By simply visiting http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml, you can find a way to call or write a letter to your representative. They even have an option to let you tweet them now (I’m not sure whether I consider that progress or a symptom of the decay of our society, but I’ll try to be optimistic in this context). If we don’t contact the members of the government and let them know exactly why a piece of legislation they’re considering upsets us, they won’t have any reason to vote against the passage of such a bill.
If you are truly passionate about the fate of a proposed piece of legislation, let your senator or congressman know how upset you as a voter will be if they don’t consider your perspective. We as voters are supposed to be the ones to whom our representatives are accountable.
Though we might not have the most direct influence when it comes to legislative matters, we do have the ability to exercise an important democratic power that we ought to embrace if we truly want to see change take place.
Brandon is a sophomore majoring in English.
