In a time, a simpler time, SOPA was the Spanish word for delicious soup and PIPA was the hotter sister of the Duchess of Cambridge.

No more.

Currently there are two bills in Congress—the Stop Online Piracy Act [SOPA] and Protect IP Act [PIPA]—that are aimed at curbing Internet piracy but actually threaten the nature of the Internet. While we don’t disagree with someone [and remember, corporations are people too!] protecting their intellectual property, and while we are deathly afraid of pirates in general, SOPA and PIPA will do little to curb piracy and more to destroy the free expression and open technological development made possible by the Internet.

Because these pieces of legislation were written by technologically retarded politicians [literal usage] who most likely still think Napster is a thing, they include non-specific language that can easily be abused to go beyond fighting pirated material and used to censor the Internet. SOPA and PIPA will target sites for hosting infringing material, instead of targeting the source of piracy. This would be like the government completely shutting down Best Buy because some shithead stole a copy of The Green Lantern on Blu-Ray.

Companies will have to invest time and money into handling SOPA and PIPA complaints instead of developing new technology or content. This could destroy web companies and discourage [even prevent] new Internet ventures. Sites you use everyday—Tauntr, Google, YouTube, Wikipedia, Facebook, Twitter—would have likely never been able to grow or even created had SOPA or PIPA been in place when they were started. If SOPA and PIPA pass, the next Google or Facebook may never happen. [Summation: They oppose business! Goddamn communists!]

Today Tauntr joins many other sites across the Internet—Wikipedia, Google, Craigslist, Reddit, Buzzfeed, The Chive, WordPress, TwitPic, Huffington Post, LOLCats amongst others—to protest SOPA and PIPA. If you value your hilarious YouTube videos, rely on Wikipedia to sound smart, use Craigslist to meet anonymous sexual partners or just enjoy any of the countless freedoms the Internet affords us, we strongly urge you to contact your representative and tell them you oppose this legislation—and considering their approval rating is 13% in election year, chances are they’ll want to make you happy.

To sign the petition against SOPA or to contact your local representative CLICK HERE.

To learn more about SOPA/PIPA, CLICK HERE.

To watch adorable baby pandas romp in the snow CLICK HERE