Stop SOPA!

Today I’ve changed the avatars on my Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ accounts to the funny little graphic that accompanies this blog post. It’s a small personal statement of my opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act, which is now pending before Congress.

In my opinion, this piece of legislation, despite its harmless-sounding title, would seriously undermine free speech on the Internet if enacted. Everyone who uses the Internet should be deeply concerned about it.

Bloggers, developers, and other geeks are already very much up in arms about SOPA. But I believe it’s something that even more casual users should be paying attention to as well.

To that end, I’d highly recommend PC World’s primer on SOPA to anyone who would like to get up to speed on the issue. The magazine’s explanation is thorough, even-handed, and written in plain English.

[UPDATE: All profiles back to normal now that SOPA has deservedly died. That said, I think users should still be on the lookout since politicians on both sides of the aisle have indicated there may yet be a different legislative effort to combat piracy in other ways.]