Today the United States is voting on a very important bill called known as Protect-IP.  This bill essentially puts the power of American Censorship in the hands of the Entertainment Industry. (Think RIAA/MPAA.)  The goal of this bill is to divide the Internet into two sectors.  You’d have an “International Internet” and a “Domestic Internet”.  International Internet is what we use now; we are free to visit any website even if the United States isn’t exactly a fan of what the website has to offer, such as file sharing sites.  Domestic Internet would be what is created for Americans if Protect-IP passes.  This would create what a form of American Censorship which is known as the “Great Firewall of America”. (think China) We’d have restricted access to websites and we’d be unable to visit specific domains–mainly up to the discretion of the entertainment industry.

Thanks to American Censorship you could soon be seeing this on your favorite website:

In addition to blocking websites the media industry finds offending, hosting or even mentioning copyrighted content would land you up to five years in prison without due process.  This includes simply singing the lyrics of a famous pop song in a YouTube video, or playing a cover on your guitar. That is the power of American Censorship.

Another piece of Protect-IP makes website owners legally responsible for everything posted on their servers.  This means if one of my readers posted a comment that had a link out to a file sharing site, I could legally be prosecuted without even knowing that link existed.  If you run a WordPress blog, this bill makes you open to boatloads of legal issues.

Facebook, Twitter, Reddit, Tumblr, and many more have already expressed their uncertainty of existence under that type of legislation.

Thankfully there still is chance to prevent American Censorship, even if you don’t live in the United States, because this type of legislation may spread if it passes here. You can write your local congressmen here.