Congress is pushing to pass the Stop Online Piracy Act, a bill aimed at protecting Hollywood and other media giants from the effects of piracy. However, the unprecedented power over the Internet that this bill aims to grant to corporations is the first step to endangering the most valuable right of all: freedom of speech.

This bill will force Comcast, Century Link and other Internet providers to censor what sites are accessible, as well as force Google, Bing and other search engines to censor their results.

This means that Hollywood corporations would have immense control over what content you are allowed to view on the Internet, essentially placing the same level of control Iran and China have over their residents’ Internet activities into the hands of U.S. corporations.

In addition, according to many cyber security experts, the necessary modifications to the Internet structure to support such changes would place Americans at increased risk online.

Tell your elected representatives that such blatant disregard for the interests of their constituents is unacceptable, and to crush this bill. To learn more, Google SOPA on an uncensored Internet while you still can.

Michael R. Traner

Otis Orchards