2012-01-19

'I'd be okay with censoring the Internet.'

I was talking with some non-techies on the day of the Great Blackout about SOPA. Most of them had never heard of it before. One woman said, “I would be okay with censoring the Internet.” I don’t understand what kind of thinking could lead someone to say this. Does she imagine that “censor the internet” means “removing stuff that I think is bad”? Doesn’t she understand that she doesn’t get to choose what is censored and what isn’t? I would love to talk to someone who has thought deeply about SOPA and censorship in general and is in favor of it, because I just cannot understand that viewpoint. It seems like the only pro-SOPA people are the RIAA and the uninformed.