Know what SOPA really is? — Do people

You can hate SOPA, but at least take a few minutes to educate yourself regarding it.

Let me start off by saying I’m opposed to Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). My House representative, Lamar Smith, is the sponsor of the bill and he offices just down the road from me. I have submitted comments to him letting him know I’m not in favor of the bill, primarily since of my concern that it suggests the internet belongs to America.

But following reading lots of criticism of the bill the prior week, I realized that a lot of people who are blasting it haven’t even made an attempt to learn the basics of the bill.

Kind of like this article from Engadget the prior week, blasting GoDaddy for its (since retracted) support of SOPA.

I generally don’t give much credence to articles that have “Hate F*cking” in the title, but I decided to read a couple paragraphs of the post.

It’s clear the author at this tech publication knows less regarding SOPA that I do.

First sentence: “GoDaddy, proud supporter of internet censorship bill SOPA, has responded to those questioning its motives.”

The story then links to a (since removed) blog post on GoDaddy’s web site that includes GoDaddy general counsel Christine Jones’ comments on the bill. But she wasn’t responding to the recent uproar; it was written long ago.

(Which brings up another point — GoDaddy has supported SOPA since it’s beginning, yet the internet just found out regarding it the prior week.)

But the next part of the Engadget story is the kicker:

Well, actually, it is regarding both of these.

Time and time again I see articles like this one that just spread confusion. I suspect 99% of those that say they’re against SOPA know very little regarding it, other than that people they like say they’re opposed to it.