I'm not a lawyer, a lawmaker, or a politician. As a matter of fact, I'm not even that interested in politics, mostly because they just bring on frustration and there's very little I can do as an individual or even as a small business owner to change things. However, I have to speak up on this one.

Governments can be dangerous. Those chosen in a democracy are built to help organize our lives, to try to live in harmony, and to represent the citizens of a country as a whole, the best they can. However, even democratic governments have become so much more nowadays, that there's no way to stop them. It's like a big money-sucking machine built by a minority to tell us what to do, to decide what's right and wrong, and to spend our money in ways we never agreed on. The more they get their hands on, the more aspects of our once simple lives get ruined... and the machine keeps on growing!

Granted, we need a government and we need rules to achieve peace and justice, amongst other things, but we already had that for the most part, yet it seems like the "higher-ups" want more. They want things to be their way, not the citizens' way, and every time new rules get established, we seem to lose yet another piece of our freedom. So why is this different from a fledging dictatorship? Sure, we sort of choose our representatives, but if they're all the same, aren't we just simply choosing our executioner?

Now, let's talk SOPA and PIPA - two propositions, which may turn into laws, that will allow the following:

• Anyone can accuse anyone of copyright infringement. The more power the accuser has, the worse the outcome for the defendant, therefore, freedom of expression is a thing of the past. Let's say a game company doesn't like a website's reviews of their games. They could always get rid of them by saying they're hosting their game images and videos without their permission. They own the rights to those images and videos forever; therefore, they own the affected website and their opinion too. Or would that website want to risk telling the truth about their terrible game at the expense of being on their bad side? Since the law doesn't define too well what is copyright infringement and what isn't, and a trial won't happen until later if it does, anything is possible!

• The goverment can shut down a website in a matter of days if someone has accused it of copyright infringement. You're guilty until proven innocent... if you can afford it. Affected websites won't be able to come back online unless they have enough money / power to prove their innocence. If they can't afford defending themselves, the livelihood of such websites will be ruined, and with it, the livelihood of many employees or freelance contributors of such outlets. This could be quite a hit for the economy in general, and the existence of many small businesses will be hanging by a thread.

• Internet service providers are forced to censor those websites so they don't show up when their customers browse the World Wide Web (or should we call it now the "non-censored part of the web?"). Basically, the "big machine" that is the government is sticking its hands in yet another pie. Now they can tell a business to limit their services to their liking, or else... they'll be shut down too, until further notice. Great. Well, I guess this has been going on for decades, in one way or another. We're all just puppets on a string.

Do you see how much wrong could come from this? And I have only mentioned a minuscule part of the whole thing. Many, many negative repercussions could arise from this poorly-crafted legislation, eventually affecting all areas of our lives. Goodbye freedom of expression. Goodbye independent publishing ventures. Goodbye user-driven Internet!

Piracy is definitely an issue, a problem that needs to be addressed by the affected industries. In fact, it has already been addressed with measures and techniques developed overtime that have helped tame the beast piracy has become. However, those industries are not going down due to piracy. In fact, for the most part, they're growing industries, especially the video game industry. It's worth billions of dollars right now, and it's predicted by 2015 its value will nearly double. So what's the problem then? What's happening here is that these industries are being forced to evolve, and they don't like it. Well, wake up folks! The Internet is here to stay, and it's been proven there's more money to be made with it than without it, plus you've already GREATLY benefited from it! So instead of playing the victim, why don't you start working on refreshing your business models so you can make money in new ways, so piracy is less of an issue for you?

Here at GameDynamo we REFUSE to accept legislation such as SOPA and PIPA as a solution to avoid piracy. It's just a poor excuse to allow censorship, and it will never work the way it's supposed to, causing immeasurable harm. For that reason, on January 18th of 2012, we won't be posting any new content to the website, as a way to join the protest and support freedom of expression as well as numerous other basic human rights that would be affected by the existence of these extreme measures. SAY NO TO SOPA & PIPA!!

Want to take action too? Google has made it easier for everyone. Sign the petition here to express your opposition to SOPA and PIPA. End Piracy, Not Liberty!

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