Wikipedia Down, Dawn of the Second Dark Ages Imminent

Wikipedia is down! This however is not the work of Anonymous or Julian Assange or some other E-Terrorist organization like Zynga (they use hypnosis devices like Farmville - that is the only possible explanation for its popularity). It is because of Wikipedia's political stance on the SOPA and PIPA bills in the legislative process right now. So what are SOPA and PIPA? They are not, as I hitherto had figured, a Spanish version of Prince William's sister-in-law in soup fashion. Maybe it was a Warhol inspired painting? Maybe it was Tesco trying to cash in further on the Royal Mania by selling semi-endorsed Royal stews? But alas, it is neither of these things and I feel rather sheepish for thinking them, let alone suggesting them here.

SOPA is the Stop Online Piracy Act aimed at giving enforcers more powers in upholding copyright holders rights. That's a lot of 'hold' and 'right' in that previous sentence. The bill, if made into law would hold websites accountable for enabling copyright infringement. This, detractors say would cause major implications in the dissemination of information and unfairly prosecute websites for the acts of the true pirates. Who by the way, now practice their religion in Sweden.

PIPA, (Preventing Real Online Threats To Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property) act is similar in scope. Before we go on though, one has to ask why it is PIPA and not PROTTECATOIP? It looks like some transliterated Greek protest movement and way more forceful than a nod to a dainty British party planner. Also, if we look at the words "Economic Creativity" it should scare all of us, wasn't it Economic Creativity that enabled the 1% to enslave the 99% to a lifestyle that is better than 99.8% of the rest of the world? We should occupy PIPA! Sorry, that was a crass joke, albeit unintentionally. But, my leaving it in the post cannot be called unintentional; hence, the apology.

But as Wikipedia has turned out the lights for 24 hours we must ask ourselves if we are on the verge of a new dark ages. Are the Gauls of the Movie Industry standing at the gates, licking their lips preparing to exclaim whoa to the vanquished? Is Doug Morris (head of Sony's music division and a clear winner from SOPA PIPA) a modern day Alaric I? Who shall be the Augustine of our day and write the treatise that sustains us through the long black night that shall come when internet knowledge is no longer free? On a side note look for my new book entitled Democrats and Republicans Constitute the Modern Day Vandals at the Siege of Hippo - The Fall of the Modern Age of Glorious Internet Freedom. Using the genius logic of the politicians I can shorten it arbitrarily as the acronym DRACVI, you're thinking of Dracula now. Ah the power of acronyms when used to prove a point...