Today is a day of american and worldwide online protest against SOPA/PIPA. Several huge sites have marked the day by blackout or other means, including Wikipedia, Google, WordPress and many others.

What’s so bad about it? It is a bill that is only on the agenda because of lobbying from the industry. Most supporters of the bill are themselves supported by the very same industry. (claims taken from the video below) Corruption? No, American politics – it’s unfortunately how the system works. And they can tolerate a certain part of that as long as the bills are sensible. This bill however is simply put a bill that allows the American industry to censor the Internet without really involving the legal system. Censorship does not belong in the free world, nor does the principle guilty until proven innocent. But that is what a desperate billion dollar industry is trying to employ.

If you want to learn more about this check out Wikipedia’s FAQ and do a google search. Unless you’re an american citizen there is not much active action you can take other than staying informed. This TED-video featuring Clay Shirky posted today better explains why we should all care, not just americans. He also points out how this is not a single incident, but rather just another step in a process that has been going on for quite some time. And there is no reason to believe that they will give up any time soon.