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E
oiiovinis
The Internet, government, and
why you should be afraid
8f l08188 kl86
EDITOR IN CHIEF
kinetikai@hotmail.com
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Just vote
already!
PEAKE
PERFORMANCE
already!
PEAKE
PERFORMANCE
8f 08lll Flkl
SPORTS EDITOR
Dap2k92@gmail.com
On }an. iS, ile online woild
weni dail in pioiesi of ile Siop
Online Piiacy Aci (SOPA) and ile
Pioieci Inielleciual Piopeiiy Aci
(PIPA). Wilipedia blacled oui iis
eniiie siie, wlile Google displayed
a laige censoi bai ovei iis famil-
iai logo. Tlose siies, along wiil
dozens of oileis (including Wiied,
Ciaigslisi, BoingBoing, Reddii and
FunnyOiDie), paiiicipaied in ile
"SOPA blacloui," alieiing ileii
fioni pages - and in some cases
iemoving ilem eniiiely - as an aci
of defiance againsi ile pioposed
bills. Tle ieason foi all ilis is ilai
ile bills, wlicl seem osiensibly
noble in ileii inieni, would give ile
goveinmeni unpiecedenied powei
io censoi websiies ilai could poien-
iially ciipple ile Inieinei as ile
uliimaie souice of fiee ilougli and
open infoimaiion.
Tle plan appeais io lave woiled,
as SOPA was delayed indefiniiely,
pending a iediafi of ile bill. So, all's
well ilai ends well, iigli? Well, noi
quiie.
On }an. iq, ile ploi iliclened
consideiably. In an M. Nigli
Slyamalan-siyle iwisi, govein-
meni agenis, wiil lelp fiom vaiious
inieinaiional police gioups, slui
down ile file slaiing websiie
Megaupload.com in one fell swoop.
Tle ialedown included ile aiiesi of
foui Megaupload execuiives includ-
ing ile foundei, Kim Doicom, on
claiges of seiiing up a sysiemized
neiwoil of copyiigli infiingemeni.
Tlis iaised ile obvious quesiion,
"Wlai is ile need foi a new bill
wlen you can iale down a siie as
enoimous as Megaupload (wlicl, by
ile way, accounied foi a wlopping
(% of ioial Inieinei iiaffic, ilanls
io iis ligl-bandwidil videos) wiil
ile clicl of a mouse?"
Of couise, ile glaiing subiexi is
ile wondiously impeccable iiming
of ile feds in conjunciion wiil ile
SOPA blacloui. A leavy-piiaiing
siie geis slui down one day afiei a
mass pioiesi of an anii-piiacy bill?
How cuiious.
Tle idea ilai ilis was ile culmi-
naiion of a yeais-long opeiaiion ilai
jusi coincidenially ended ai ilis
paiiiculai iime, oi ilai Megaupload
jusi so lappened io slip up ai pie-
cisely ile wiong momeni is iidicu-
lous. Afiei all, Megaupload was
nevei a paiiiculaily cauiious siie.
Tleii piiacy iaclei las been jusi
sloii of public foi ile lasi few yeais.
A closei inspeciion ieveals ilai ile
evidence io iniiiaie ile ialedown
and male ile aiiesis could lave
been available foi quiie some iime.
Ii's faii io deduce ilis was an opeia-
iion ilai lad been siiiing in ile
wings foi quiie a wlile.
As cynical as ii may be, ile con-
clusion ilai leaps io mind is ile
feds weie waiiing foi SOPA io pass
so iley could spiing ile iiap on
Megaupload and claim, "You see? Ii
woils! We iool down a majoi piiacy
iing!" Howevei, wlen ile SOPA
bacllasl siiucl and ii became
appaieni ilai ileie was ioo mucl
negaiive iesponse foi ile bill io go
iliougl, iley lad io clange geais.
So in a move of delicious evil genius,
ile feds decided io siiile swifily,
in ile wale of celebiaiion, io ieacl
ilose fiee-Inieinei, piiaie-loving,
copyiigli-infiinging iioublemaleis
a lesson. "You may lave won youi
liiile baiile bui don'i gei ioo comfy.
We can siill sciew wiil you anyiime
we wani." Tlis is puie speculaiion
of couise bui ii males foi a iailei
nice sioiy.
Howevei, ile afieimail was veiy
ieal. Tle iipple of feai ile feds weie
piesumably loping foi spiead almosi
insianianeously. In ile nexi few
days, nine oilei websiies (includ-
ing Filesonic, Uploaded.io, VideoBB
and File}ungle) all iesiiicied oi
downiigli lalied ileii file-slaiing
seivices of ileii own voliiion. Tlis
ianged fiom upload and download
iesiiiciions io ile mass deleiion
of ilousands of files and accounis.
One of ile laigesi iemaining
file-losiing siies, MediaFiie, also
slowed signs of panic, deleiing
all ile music fiom iis Angiyclaiis
Redux blog. We can only piedici
wlicl siie will fold nexi.
Tle moial of ilis ongoing sioiy
is ilai if a goveinmeni lacls powei,
ii will lool foi an excuse io gei ii.
And if a goveinmeni las powei,
all iley need is an excuse io use ii.
Simply lool ai ile PATRIOT Aci oi
ile FCC io see ile level of iesiiaini
ile goveinmeni iends io display in
ilese siiuaiions. Tle simple iiuil
is ilai in cases wleie a websiie
displays obvious evidence of illegal
aciiviiy, ile goveinmeni can siep
iigli in and iale caie of ii, as
slown by Megaupload. Tleie's no
need foi sucl egiegious addiiions
io ile goveinmeni's aimamenis,
especially noi in ile foim of a bill
as pooily-consiiucied as SOPA.
As }ames Madison said, "Tle
essence of Goveinmeni is powei;
and powei, lodged as ii musi be in
luman lands, will evei be liable
io abuse."
Heie's loping ilai iediafi iales
a good, long iime.
Lei me siaii by saying ilai, yes, I am
awaie ilai I am ile Spoiis Ediioi. Howevei,
eveiy now and ilen ile Peale Peifoimance
will pull you fiom ile eleciiifying, ball-
baiiing, pucl-smacling woild of spoiis io
a subjeci ilai I find, ai ile momeni, a liiile
bii moie impoiiani. I lope you don'i mind.
Of couise you don'i - you'ie siill ieading!
Basically, I'm exiiemely disappoinied in
my geneiaiion's lacl of compeiency iowaid
ile impoiiance of voiing. Wlile siiiing in
class ilis semesiei, I was foiced io lisien
io ile iebuiial of siudenis wlen asled
ileii opinions on voiing. Somewleie in
ile midsi of ile I-don'i-ieally-caies, ile
I'm-io-young-io-caies and, my peisonal
favoiiie, ile I-lei-my-paienis-voie-foi-mes,
I neaily snapped. Honesily, ii iool eveiy bii
of siiengil I lad noi io inieiiupi my pio-
fessoi wiil a long and angei-claiged iani.
Sadly, my siiengil only leld up foi so long
seeing as you'ie ieading said iani ai ilis
veiy momeni. In a iime wlen naiional and
global affaiis male and slape ile woild in
wlicl we live, low can anyone noi voice
ileii opinion? I don'i caie wleilei you'ie a
iepublican, demociai oi }im }ones aciivisi,
youi voie maiieis!
Sadly, ile iesi of ile populace seems io
lold a geneially uncaiing aiiiiude iowaid
ile poliiical aspeci of oui couniiy. Befoie
we coniinue, foi ile sale of noi being a
lypociiie, lei me jusi say no, I don'i aciively
follow ile piimaiies noi do I consisienily
swiicl ile clannel io Fox, NBC oi CNN.
Noneileless, wlen ii comes io maling a
piofound decision ilai will diiecily affeci
ile veiy siaie of my couniiy, I lave no
oilei cloice bui io pui in ile ieseaicl.
See, leie's ile iling ilai pisses me off.
Tlose same people wlo say iley'ie indif-
feieni aboui voiing use ile ciappy excuse
of "my voie won'i couni anyways." How in
God's name won'i youi voie couni? Lei's
lool ai wlai lappened in :ooS foi example.
Baiacl Obama, senaioi fiom Illinois, basi-
cally sends a call oui io all ilose wlo wani
io see lim as Piesideni. He peisuades ilem
io go oui on Eleciion Day and male ileii
voice leaid. Ai ilis veiy momeni ilai same
senaioi fiom Illinois is siiiing in ile Oval
Office. Tle pioblem piesenily in Ameiica's
voiing piocess is noi ile poliiical conspii-
acy ciies. On ile coniiaiy, ii's ilose same
people ciying conspiiacy!
Lile I said, I apologize foi puiiing spoiis
io ile sidelines bui I piefei noi io live
in a couniiy iun by ile aveiage poliiical
monley in a suii. So, please, do us all a
favoi and iale inieiesi in ile well being
of youi couniiy because nine iimes oui of
ien you'ie lelping biing aboui youi ideal
iomoiiow.
2012 Michigan Community College Press Association Judging Form

Place of award: HONORABLE MENTION

First Place Second Place Third Place Honorable Mention

Category: Serious column

Headline/title of entry: The Internet, government, and why you should be
afraid

Contestants name: Jonathan King

College name: Schoolcraft College


Judges comments:
1. There is a lot of good information and background. You obviously
put a lot of effort into the research or know a lot about the subject
matter.
2. I think you need to be a little clearer on your position. I was looking
for a theme and found several: government intervention is bad, the
government overstepped its boundaries, theres no need for SOPA
because the government can do whatever it wants in this matter
anyway. It hints at several directions, which then makes it a little hard
to grasp as a conceptual whole.
3. Clean crisp writing.