Letter to my representatives in Congress about SOPA and PIPA

I am writing to you in regard to SOPA and PIPA. These bills claim to stop online piracy and protect intellectual and creative property, but they don't.

Instead, they give the government a sweeping and worrisome, as well as dangerous, ability to shut down any site whatsoever at the mere thought that they might have copyright infringing materials on them. It does not give the site owners/moderators/etc. a chance to deal with the alleged copyright infringement.

If either of these bills pass, they will make it impossible for certain websites to function. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and countless other websites will end up shutting down because they will be unable to sustain the requirements that would be necessary in order to comply with the bills.

Right now, we have laws that address these very issues and use common sense language. Those who own/host/moderate the websites are notified of the alleged infringement of copyright and give them time to take the infringing content down.

Taking down an entire websites without notice just because some users have misused it is government-sanctioned censorship and America is better than that.

These bills will put the US on par with China, Iraq and other countries that are known for their nasty Internet censorship laws. Do we suddenly want to become the next China or the next Iraq? What's wrong with being America and a leader in freedom? I thought that was a fundamental thing that set us apart from those other countries -- freedom.

Punishing everyone for the actions of a few is neither fair nor right. We as a country are better than what these bills will do to us.

In addition to the rights that the bills would give the government over entire websites, there is also very broad language about what constitutes copyright infringement in these bills.

I'm sorry, but I'm not going to take the government's word that they won't abuse the power, the fact is the way that some of that language is written it would give them the right to arrest someone for singing famous songs and posting their talent on YouTube. That's ridiculous.

And I'm supposed to feel better about the language just because the government is assuring me that despite the fact that the bills would allow for that they will not be using it that way? No thanks, I'm not that gullible, or trusting of Big Government.

Finally, neither of the bills actually fix the problem of piracy. Not one bit. A person can still get to the websites to pirate goods or to view pirated goods online JUST by typing in the website's IP address into the address bar. That's all.

So, if this bill expands government reach to censorship territory, puts government on par with the likes of China and Iraq of all places as far as that censorship goes, takes away more of our freedoms, punishes innocent users and innocent website owners/operators, and DOESN'T EVEN DO the job that they're supposed to be doing...why in the WORLD are we even contemplating these bills in the slightest?

Please, vote these bills down and then chuck them out the window. It's the American thing to do.