I don't normally do this, but because SOPA and PIPA are so frightening and so serious in the ways our internet lives could change, I had to raise awareness (although you'd have to be one ignorant bastard to not know about it, or from a different country that doesn't care about SOPA).

I'm a gamer, I watch videos online of people gaming, like TotalBiscuit, and I write fanfictions, things which are not completely mine. Simply by posting this online, I could be arrested and be sent to jail for five years, simply for posting this! This isn't the worst part, it's the fact that over half the internet comes from America and SOPA is based in America.

How can an act to stop piracy (Stop Online Piracy Act) effect our internet lives so much? Well, let's put it this way; you so much as put a link into anything that isn't yours onto a site such as Facebook or Twitter, the site could be sued for copyright infringement, or worst case scenario, be shut down purely because the link wasn't theirs. Youtube is worst at stake for this, the music industry has been fighting Youtube for years and now it's finally at its lowest, if SOPA passes there will be no more Youtube. I certainly don't want that! This is like nuking the internet to get rid of pirates, the pirates will still find a way, it won't work!

More information on SOPA and PIPA can be found at: sopastrike (dot) com

Remove gaps and there is also a full list of websites protesting against SOPA as well as videos explaining what SOPA is and its history. Sign a petition or call your reprisentative and stop SOPA and PIPA from passing! Save the internet!

Now, here is my view on America and England's view on this SOPA business. Enjoy~!

America Without Internet

Even if Alfred had seen the news spreading around, heard that the sites planned to do what they were going to do, the famous day of January 18th 2012 on the year of the world ending (supposedly) where something so huge was happening to the fourth world, the internet, that even the third world, real life, heard it; that he had expected something like this.

"WHAT?" America as practically in arms that Wednesday morning as he saw on his page to Reddit was nothing more than blackness with white words warning of SOPA destroying Wikipedia, reddit and the internet itself. Reddit itself was blocked.

"No, it can't be. Surely!" Alfred pushed his glasses up and sighed. "Oh well, if reddit doesn't work, there's always 4chan." That was what he did. However, inputting the address, he saw a simple newspaper article telling that "the internet strikes today!" as well as more details on SOPA and that 4Chan was on strike as of today in protest against SOPA and PIPA.

"Even 4Chan is down!" Alfred was beginning to panic. "Cheezburger, surely that will work!" Unfortunately not. The same thing, Cheezburger wasn't working to protest against SOPA and PIPA.

That was when his mobile rang and quickly he answered it. "Heyooo!"

"You bloody git, simply say hello when one picks up the phone!" It was England, of course. He probably realised 4Chan wasn't working as well, if Alfred had to guess.

"Hey, Artie! You seen that Reddit ain't working dude? Neither is Cheezburger! I think I'm going to die!" Alfred panicked. The internet was his life, he needed it to survive to stay awake during meetings and entertain himself. How could the internet do this to him!

"That's the least of my worries! You realise Wikipedia has shut down right now?" What. Grabbing a nearby hamburger he so happened to hide a stash of constantly, America inputted the website Wikipedia and noticed the slogan "Imagine a world without free knowledge" as well as a link to learn more about SOPA and PIPA.

"Dude, so it has! I can't live without those sites, man! How do I bring 'em back?"

"Don't you realise it? They're protesting against that stupid SOPA business, Lord knows what it is. My people aren't as happy with it as you seem to be."

"They didn't have to turn the whole thing off." America whined.

England sighed on the other end. "Listen, git, the people are applauding the websites for doing this, surely you can hear?" America could hear, the people cheering Wikipedia, Google and Mozilla on for their actions against SOPA. America never agreed with SOPA, he knew the consequences in meddling something as huge as the internet. The internet was just something you didn't mess with; it was the most powerful piece of technology ever created by man. It had the power to give and take, the power to create and destroy. No secret was safe with the internet around, if one knew what they were doing; they could achieve great things with the internet. It was the ultimate weapon and the ultimate blessing to the world. It was the true "Land of the free".

If SOPA were to pass… how would Youtube survive? How would Google cope, or even Wikipedia, the biggest search engines internet wide?

America sighed. "I guess I can. Well, maybe I'll play Minecraft to pass the- SON OF A…" Only to realise that Minecraft had also shut down against SOPA, with the slogan "SOPA AND PIPA? HOW ABOUT NOPA?"

"Am I to guess that Minecraft has shut down too?" Arthur asked, chuckling at America currently panicking on the other side of the globe.

"Dude, this isn't funny! My internet as I know it is breaking down! I can't let the congress do this to my people! I can't survive without the internet! Dude, is this what the Mayans had seen, SOPA passing? Because that's the end of the world for me!"

"Don't be stupid, Alfred. The world isn't going to end. However, this internet crisis isn't doing me a load of good. I cannot do much work without Wikipedia." Alfred heard Arthur grumble slightly on the other side, something about "American government bastards and their earth-sized egos."

"Don't worry about it, dude! I'm the hero, and I'm gonna save the internet!"

"Good luck with that." England scoffed, before he hung up. Alfred put his mobile down before he typed SOPA into Google, to which the name had been covered in a thick black square as well as at the bottom a begging for people to contact the congress against SOPA. There was a lot of information about what SOPA stood for and the damages it could cause, including the possible closing of Facebook, Google, Twitter, Tumblr, Youtube and many other major sites simply for having a suspected rogue site link posted anywhere on their website. That was frightening enough for Alfred to despite SOPA for what it stood for.

"Take our freedom away, we'll see about that." He would stop SOPA, no matter what, because he was a hero!

Thank you all for reading and paying attention! Let's work together to stop SOPA!

NEWS. I have just learnt thanks to the BBC website and for Fight For The Future (fightfortheftr on Twitter) emailing me updates that the SOPA protests have been a massive success! Thousands of geeks poured out into the streets in New York to protest against SOPA and I have never been more proud or happy in my life that I live with the internetkind! This has never happened before and it is the biggest news in technology history! Only five representatives were against SOPA before these protests, thanks to all your efforts, we're now up to thirty five against SOPA! We need forty two for SOPA to finally be dead and buried forever!

I give a HUGE SPECIAL thanks to Wikipedia for blacking out their site for twenty four hours. Without them, this protest wouldn't have been half of what it has been! I have never loved Wikipedia more than I have at this minute. If you go over to the Wikipedia site, it will tell you right now "Thank you for protecting Wikipedia. (We're not done yet.)" And this is true! We can't stop until SOPA and PIPA are purely done and buried in the ground forever! Let's show these government bastards how we feel about internet censorship!

Let's make sure SOPA and PIPA do not pass on January 24th 2012 when it is finally decided whether it lives or dies! WE CANZ HAVE INTERNETZ!

~Blackie