Student encourages generational outreach

Our constitutional right to freedom of speech has been directly tested over the past few months through the controversial legislation SOPA and POPA.  At its core, SOPA promotes a respectable objective: to put a stop to illegal web practices such as downloading and streaming illegally obtained music and video. To actually enforce this ideal, however, would be nearly impossible without impairing virtually all websites even remotely affiliated with the perpetrators. For example, if one were to search "Hey Arnold episodes," Google would be legally banned from issuing links to websites such as YouTube or Megavideo that host the television program without the copyright holder's permission. Not only would this affect the user, but it could potentially affect Google's intricately designed algorithm that allows it to obtain relevant and timely search results.

However, we already know everything about SOPA, right? Opponents of the legislation fought fire with fire; they fought censorship of the internet by using the internet. During the past week, social networking sites such as Facebook and Twitter have been bombarded with posts by college students in regards to the controversial Senate legislation SOPA and its House counterpart PIPA.  According to Twitter, on Wednesday alone, there were 3.9 million tweets about the legislation. Even more impressively, over seven million users signed Google's petition to stop SOPA and PIPA. The crazy thing is that these efforts to stop the legislation actually worked. The Senate and the House tabled the two bills, which is a nicer way of pronouncing them dead.

So, congrats to our generation for speaking out and making our governmental system work in our favor. Through awareness and momentum, we kept our Internet rights despite the odds.  However, should we really be so ecstatic about our accomplishment?

If this act of legislation taught us anything significant, it isn't necessarily that our Internet should not be censored. It is that our generation does have a voice that can directly impact the path of our country and our future. In a matter of days, we caused the demise of a bill that had every intention of being passed not even a week ago. Where have we been in the past three years?  What was our generation doing during the debt ceiling crisis, during the healthcare debate, during the extension and reduction of our Middle Eastern military efforts? The legislation that truly affects our future happiness and prosperity was thrown to the wayside, but a change to our Internet freedom ignited a spark that turned into a roaring fire. That speaks wonders about our priorities, but it also demonstrates the power of our unified voice.

If you, twenty something year old Internet crawler, gained any sort of gratification from seeing our legislative system work for you, continue to involve yourself in the issues surfacing in Washington. The main victims of legislation that is passed today are not the middle-aged representatives who are voting on the matters. It is our generation, and we will be subject to the consequences of our present decisions unless we continue to pressure our government to do what is right for our future happiness. Continue to voice your opinion, and our 50-year-old selves will thank you.