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Welcome to the SOPA special edition of my blog.

While I cannot do anything directly to prevent these laws passing (I am neither a Senator, Congressman or even an American) I am a citizen of a great little nation I call the United Countries of the Internet. My citizenship papers are the trails I leave on this blog, facebook, twitter and many other sites. As a proud member of this nation I feel it's only fair that I exercise my democratic right and let my voice be heard.

So, what is SOPA?

The premise of SOPA seems very fair; let's stop all of the people who are making pirated material available on the internet. In the interest of full disclosure I would like everyone to know that I have accessed pirated material from the internet. I don't do it often and I frequently buy things later if I like them but I am not innocent in this conversation. I am not, however, protesting the removal of my right to pirated material - I think that's totally fair. It's the other aspects of the SOPA that I disagree with.

So, what's wrong with SOPA?

SOPA does not merely wish to target sites that enable access to pirated material but any site which may have used any material that could be considered copywritten. Here's an example:

This picture is from my favourite Disney movie, The Great Mouse Detective. I might chose to use this if we're talking about the paths we take when we write and the origins of those paths (many of my stories, while not in the detective genre, involve murders and police investigations). I would add the photo to illustrate my blog and to perhaps jog some peoples memories as it is not one of the big Disney flicks. If SOPA goes through I am now fair game. Yes, I provided a citation for the picture but that was just another blog, not the Disney Corporation. In that way I just used their material without their knowledge (I did not ask first). Am I harming the Disney Corporation by doing this? I don't believe so but they may see my blog as bad publicity for them.

What will SOPA do to me?

Here's the kicker. The US government will have the authority to order Blogger to remove my blog. They can do this despite the fact that I am not American and this blog is not run out of America. This is what they are legislating - the right to remove anything from the entire internet they do not agree with regardless of it's origin. They will give Blogger five days to comply. They don't even have to prove that I am using copywritten material - they can remove my blog on a suspicion. It is then my duty to argue my case to them - I am declared guilty by a foreign country and must prove my innocence.

So, that's what all the fuss is about and that's why I'm angry. If you're reading this and you are American please contact your local politicians and tell them that they have no right to bear their legislation on foreign entities. If this legislation is passed I'd just love everyone out there to dob me in to the powers that be - I'd love to be test case to prove that America does not own the internet. Just to make sure I'm using enough copywritten material here's a picture from Toy Story 3.

If you want to know more click here for a great gif that explains the restrictions SOPA will impose on your favourite websites.