CENSORSHIP
Two recent bills that are currently in the process of approval -- Protect-IP Act and (even worse) SOPA -- threaten to violate our freedom and change the internet as we know it. These bills will allow the US government and other corporations to change the inner workings of the internet and gives them the authority to force your Internet Service Providers to block access to any websites for simply contain a link to a song (or anything similar or worse) even if posted by one of their users.
This would effectively threaten almost any sites you use daily and either shut them down or have them declare marshal law, in a way, censoring or removing users. Website owners would have to verify anything that any user posts, and if it contains any content what-so-ever that is not yours, (ex. Lyrics to a song, a link to a copyrighted photo, etc.) they would have to censor you or face the charges.
Video hosting sites such as Youtube would have to completely change; music download sites such as BeeMP3 would be shut down and sued; thousands of forums would be censored or blocked. What's worse is that changing the inner workings of the internet could cause massive amounts of problems for its own structure. Hackers would have plenty of new exploits to steal your information, such as banking accounts, social security, or worse.
This would effectively threaten almost any sites you use daily and either shut them down or have them declare marshal law, in a way, censoring or removing users. Website owners would have to verify anything that any user posts, and if it contains any content what-so-ever that is not yours, (ex. Lyrics to a song, a link to a copyrighted photo, etc.) they would have to censor you or face the charges.
Video hosting sites such as Youtube would have to completely change; music download sites such as BeeMP3 would be shut down and sued; thousands of forums would be censored or blocked. What's worse is that changing the inner workings of the internet could cause massive amounts of problems for its own structure. Hackers would have plenty of new exploits to steal your information, such as banking accounts, social security, or worse.
What can you do?
Inform yourself: Use the internet while you have it; learn what you can and research new ways to combat these acts.
Spread the news: Tell friends about this, have them sign petitions against the bills, organize or join protests.
Protect yourself: Your ISP will be able to prevent you from entering certain web addresses. Programs such as TOR (or The Onion Router) will encrypt your data, making where you become invisible to them and allowing access to censored/blocked sites. Be sure to learn how to use them properly or you'll be wasting your time.
We are Anonymous.
We never forgive.
We never forget.
Expect everyone.
