Stop SOPA

To mark the Internet strike in support of Stop SOPA and similar campaigns, I'm hiding most of the hyperlinks on this blog. Because that's what the internet will look like if this kind of legislation goes through.

Why? Because SOPA enables any site owner to be prosecuted if their site links to one that contains copyright-violated material. Have you checked every page of every single website that your blog has ever linked to? Thought not. SOPA or its successors will force bloggers to stop linking to other sites or accepting comments, for fear of prosecution; it will cripple social media for the same reason; it will make search engines illegal. It will effectively kill the Internet that we know and love.

This isn't just a US problem; it affects us all. The US controls the core infrastructure of the web, for example the central DNS databases that tell all our computers which physical machine a web domain like www.annelyle.com maps to. They blacklist your domain, you're screwed, whether your website is based in New York, London, Delhi…

President Obama has apparently said he won't sign SOPA – but the big industries behind it won't give up. Please lend your support. Thank you.