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If you lave discoveied an eiioi, please coniaci ile Ediioi in Clief, y(- (6:-((::, oi scediioigscloolciafi.edu. E oiiovinis The Internet, government, and why you should be afraid 8f l08188 kl86 EDITOR IN CHIEF kinetikai@hotmail.com [c e n s o r e d ] 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.