doych

Why all the SOPA fuss??

As someone who creates content for the web, earns a living from it, and has had her content pirated numerous times, I do feel that we need protection against online piracy.

I do not, however, think that SOPA or PIPA are the legislation we need.

SOPA and PIPA are badly drafted legislation that won't be effective at their stated goal (to stop copyright infringement), and will cause serious damage to the free and open Internet. They put the burden on website owners, like myself, to police user-contributed material and call for the unnecessary blocking of entire sites. Small sites like mine won't have sufficient resources to defend themselves.

Over the weekend, the Obama administration issued a statement, saying it would oppose PIPA and SOPA as written: "While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet."

Learn more about the blacklist bill.

Detailed information about these bills can also be found in the Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act articles on Wikipedia.

Tell Congress: Don’t censor the Web

The salvage of Flight #1549.

Some compelling images from the recent recovery of Flight #1549 in the Hudson. It’s the kind of stuff you can look at now with interest because nobody died; The scene becomes one of morbid curiousity. It gives you a rare glimpse at the people who actually have to clean up a mess like this after the TV crews are all gone. It’s also interesting to see really good photography of an event different than the way you initially experienced it. While cell phone journalism will become even more widespread, there’s a difference between capturing the moment—and capturing it well. (Via.)