UPDATE: Check out this TED Talk that clearly outlines what is at stake with SOPA and PIPA: http://www.aphotoeditor.com/2012/01/19/sopa-and-photography/

Unless you have been sleeping in a cave you will probably have heard about the internet protests today against the SOPA and PIPA legislations that are set to be taken up in Congress. Many prominent websites have shut down for the day. Others, including WordPress (Yay!) offer up more symbolic protests. I would like to offer my own personal protest. Inaction on my part though is out of the question. The invisible, the voiceless, do not have anything to withhold in the public sphere.

Since the central idea in both SOPA and PIPA is a heavy handed defense of intellectual property that overwhelming benefits the big Corporations, I thought I would take a page out of the Hippie protest handbook, otherwise known as Steal This Book by Abbie Hoffman, and put up one of my images and ask that you appropriate, err, steal the image and put it up wherever you like. You might even want to (digitally) scrawl your own protest message on it. Send it to your Congress person if you can’t think of anything to do with it!

I guess yesterday’s image will work well. Lots of open space in this image for the free expression of ideas. Plus it’s a nice metaphor.