Today, two bills in Congress have received a lot of attention as a variety of sites, including WordPress, participated in an Internet blackout. The goal was to make a point of what could happen should SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) or PIPA (Protecting Intellectual Property Act) become law. The purpose of SOPA and PIPA is to prevent piracy of intellectual property. Let me say that I do understand why most of Hollywood and recording artists would support these bills as piracy does have a negative impact on their incomes. The solution to the problem of Internet piracy, however, is not to create legislation that could lead to a censored Internet.

Intellectual property cannot be protected when it is censored. The First Amendment to the Constitution is more important today than ever. I’ll be the first to let you know there are a lot of people who say a lot of things which I don’t agree with. However, I will defend their right to express their ideas. The problem with censorship is someone has to decide what gets censored, and as things go, that would end up being a government agency somewhere. That would be a direct violation of the First Amendment.

We all have choices, and we all have the right to exercise those choices. I may not agree with everything that is produced and published, and that’s OK. There will be many who don’t agree with what I write and publish. That’s also OK. What we have to do is agree to disagree and allow the other side to express its opinions. Just because things are published does not mean we have to read or view them. We can choose what to read or watch or listen to, and others don’t have the right to tell us what to read, write, or listen to.

There are a lot of things out there – reading and viewing materials – which I don’t support. I simply choose not to read or watch those. I’m not going to tell somebody else they can’t read or watch those. I don’t want anybody telling me what I can or cannot read or watch. Parents make those decisions for their children. Adults make them for themselves. If you don’t like something that’s out there, choose not to read it, choose not to watch it. Don’t try to dictate those choices for others.

Intellectual property deserves protection. All of it. Intellectual property cannot be protected by creating legislation that, in the end, could lead to censored intellectual property. The thing about censorship is that in the beginning it seems harmless enough. The rationale makes sense. However, once censorship begins, it becomes a snowball rolling downhill. After the first thing is censored, censoring the second becomes easier and censoring the third is much easier. All it takes is a foot in the door.

Too often legislation gets passed through the use of scare tactics. Legislators are able to convince their constituents that the legislation is in their best interests or is needed to protect them from something. Don’t be fooled by this. There is not, nor will there ever be, a good excuse for passing any legislation that could censor intellectual freedom and property. The exchange of ideas, good or bad, is what keeps civilization rolling. I don’t have to support every idea out there. I don’t have to read every author out there. I don’t have to view every piece of art, watch every movie or television show, or listen to every recording. However, I do have to support every author’s, artist’s, and musician’s right to put their intellectual property out there.