SOPA

http://www.citizen-times.com/article/20120122/BUSINESS/301220018/Asheville-columnist-Crossman-SOPA-poses-grave-threat-Internet-freedom


Craig Crossman in his column explains the Stop Online Piracy Act and what would occur if it was past. He begins by explaining the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Under this act, two international treaties were ratified on handling copyright infringement committed on the internet. He uses YouTube as his prime example and what regulations it originally had. The Crossman continues to explain the changes that occurred in 2010 as a result of Viacom International Inc. v. Youtube, Inc. He then criticizes the rewriting of  the laws because it prevents "humans [from doing] what we do best: create and innovate." He provides theoretical examples, illustrating what would happen to a popular website like YouTube is asmall complaint were to come up. It would shut down. Therefore, this is known as the Internet "blacklist""where websites would shut down permanently. He then directly states his opinion, stating the law is "particularly infuriating" because we would be shutting down the Internet which is the "best thing America has going for it." He disagrees with the law exaggerating that it "seeks to destroy the global community."
This is relevant to my life because I am a teenager growing up in a technologically based society, where an internet plays a role in my life. I do use Google and YouTube, therefore if these websites were to shut down, it would affect how I obtain information greatly.