Feeling lucky? Not particularly…the image above is the view of Google’s homepage in response to the SOPA and PIPA acts.

The past week we have been talking quite a bit about the governmental process and how, theoretically, our voice as citizens is heard through a representative democracy…and today a perfect exercise of how this works fell into my lap.

As you may of heard, today websites like Wikipedia and Google are protesting the proposed SOPA and PIPA acts that are making their way through congress. In short, these acts are attempting to get rid of online piracy, but can ultimately have a negative effect on the well being of the internet in the process…in the opinion of some. In response, Google and Wikipedia have altered their website in protest…Wikipedia has blacked out for 24 hours, and Google has created an online petition in response to these two pieces of legislation.

Anyone can get involved with this process and exercise your duty in a representative democracy, you can visit the Google website and sign the petition, or visit Wikipedia and access a direct line of communication to your state’s representatives. You can also track the progress of these bills by visiting Trackgov. In my class we will be tracking both of these bills as well as discuss the positives and negatives of both of these bills.

Mr. McClung