We Are The Gatekeepers

Today is a day that will live in infamy, at least in the realm of the Internet. Today, on January 18, 2012, the masses and technology corporations rallied together as a host of influential websites, including such power players as Google, Craigslist, Tumblr, and Wikipedia, blacked out their websites in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a bill that according to Wikipedia, “would expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods”. This, from what I have been able to gather, means that if I, a mere blogger hoping to have some kind of positive impact on the world, were to post a link to a page that itself contained links to copyrighted material, my blog could be shut down, I could be sued, and the company that hosts my blog might even be liable to be sued. As a student of business and journalism hoping someday to have a future on this great thing called the Internet, this does not sit right with me.

Lost in the Links

     

It never fails. I’ll be surfing the Internet, minding my own business, when a brightly colored hyperlink attracts my attention. Immersed in whatever article, blog post, or video I’m currently focused on, I’ll casually right-click the link and select “Open link in new tab”. I’ll read it when I’m done with this one, I think. Two or three inches later down the page, another link catches my eye. Again, I open the provoking content in a different tab. Then again. Then again. Before I know it, I’ve got eighteen tabs open, my laptop is running slower than a snail on promethazine, and I’ve got messages popping up basically screaming at me to lighten the load.