Actually probably better if they DON'T try again.

This post felt more important than the other I was going to post today, so I'll save it for tomorrow. Much of the 'net is 'shutting down' in protest of these bills. Granted they didn't make much sense to me at first, but when you think about it it can work. And hopefully it is. By shutting down, with only a small explanation and links pointing to the information about SOPA and PIPA, it's getting people talking and thinking.

No one's debating that piracy is bad. We all know it's bad, even those who have been guilty of sharing movies or music. But these bills aren't the answer. They are a blatant overreach of control and power that quite frankly, government doesn't deserve to have. When the White House says it's not going to back it, you have to wonder why. And if Congress and the House are going through with it anyway, one has to wonder why. The answer's simple; because it's not about eliminating piracy. It's not about protecting creative works (and believe me I'm all for protecting creative works). It's about a bunch of guys wanting to be the ones to decide what gets out there and what doesn't. This is not the Communist Party in China. Thanks to sites like YouTube, Google, Facebook, etc I've discovered things and artists I would have never heard about otherwise. I would never have discovered have the artwork I have now and who painted it. My networking would be significantly diminished. I never would have been introduced to folks like TotalBiscuit, Jesse Cox, Toby Turner, iJustine and the Yogscast had it not been for YouTube. Watching other peoples' videos of computer and console games has inspired me to pick up more than a few that I might not have heard of otherwise because indie developers don't get the same spotlight the big guys do. These bills have to die. And stay dead.

And here, I shall share probably the best and informative video about this ridiculous nonsense bill: WTF is SOPA? aka The American Government trying to ruin the internet