A none climbing post

It isn't often that I go off topic, and by off topic I mean none climbing related posts. It has been a very interesting week so far. People might have seen that the compressor route on Cerro Torre has finally been climbed, without the use of the many bolts that have been placed there over the years (both by Cesare Maestri and David Lama's Redbull team). I think that this is an amazing achievement and one which is well overdue for such a high profile mountain. The two climbers are Hayden Kennedy and Jason Kruk and they have yet to submit some kind of press release (but you can read up on this here). I think that this is a topic for another post.

Having started by saying that this wasn't a none climbing post, then proceeded to actually posted about climbing. For once I'm going to use my blog for something that is a little more important. For people who regularly use the Internet they might have noticed that yesterday so high profile websites (wikipedia was probably the most noteable) were blocked and displaying messages relating to SOPA or PIPA. Considering the impact of these bills US Congress has been trying to put through there has been little media attention. Why isn't it over the entire Internet? Why is not on newspapers or on television sights around the world? Why hasn't it made it onto radio 4 at least? (something I listen to daily). I'll happily admit that I'm a bit of a hermit when it comes to accessing modern media. I have a poor Internet connection, only read the independent (after my partner has read it) and I don't watch television. Still the Internet and access to a lot of free information means an incredible amount to me. 

What does SOPA mean? Well SOPA stands for "Stop Online Piracy Act". It is a bill that is being presented to congress by Rep. Lamar S. Smith on the 24th of January. Now from my scant knowledge of how the America congress system works (mostly from Evan Almighty), this bill will need the backing of several Representatives to put the bill through. The SOPA bill, if made law, will expand the abilities of both U.S. Law enforcement and copyright holders to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods.This isn't going to be a bad things. The infringement of copyright and the illegal downloading of media (in all forms) cripples industries and causes massive job loss. Internet piracy with regard to downloading music over the years has resulted in a stunted and damaged global music industry. The same is true for the film industry. PIPA is a similar bill.

This bill doesn't just cover intellectual rights based around the internet, however this is what bothers me the most. What bothers me the most is that will have impacts of peoples freedom of speech and will damaged websites that are supported by user content. Basically put my blog could get shut down if someone working with in the relms of SOPA has decided that I have breached copyright, regardless of whether I have or not. If my blog can get shut down, what about websites such as wikipedia or entire online communities like reddit?

I have a really problem with people telling me what to do. I don't dislike being asked to do something and I have no problems taking orders, but I have a real problem if I can't see an obvious reason behind something, also even if I can see the reason behind something, sometimes the reason itself is just a problem. SOPA and PIPA stand for something that is going to end up infringing on free speech and damaged online communities, social networks. What do I do about this? What can anyone do?

Well the bill is being passed in America. I am not America, I'm British but I fear that something similar would follow here (when our politicians have finally got some time to think about it, instead of constantly arguing about how to fix the economy or who's fault it was in the first place). What about places like China, where there have already been problems in the past about censorship? Did you know that the majority of Chinese citizens don't know of the infamous "tank man" (The person who stood infront of a row of tanks at Tienanmen Square Protests in 1989). Hell, I know about him and I was barely even born at the time.

What we can do is actually get this news out there? So fare I've only come across it from using sites such as memebase and reddit. I've yet to see it on the mainstream media. You can do what you can though. If you're an America Citizen then you can sign a petition to stop SOPA here. If you're not then you can get the word out on various forums and media outlets. 

I'll leave with this:

And a link to the original here.