Hey folks, Harry here... AICN will not be going BLACK today. It did once. Along time ago. Actually it was the day that both Jimmy Stewart & Robert Mitchum died upon the same day. It put me into such a funk, that I renamed the site, "IT AINT COOL NEWS," bathed the site in black and removed all content except an obituary for these two towering men that I loved so much on screen - and always shall.
Today, there are thousands of websites, both larger and smaller, that are protesting the two bills that would basically mean I'd at least have to shut down TALKBACK. Because AICN doesn't have the money to pay a copy editor, much less folks that would have to manually approve thousands of talkbacks a day. Making sure nobody placed a link that they should not have. The way sites like AICN and others share embed trailers, some types of information... all of that would change. We'd still write, but the balls would be snipped from AICN.
In fact, much of the Internet's balls would be in danger. With these sweeping powers contained in these two bills - well, it would profoundly change things like Wikipedia, YouTube, Reddit... pretty much every site worth a shit. Except for the gigantic corporate sites.
We're on the edge of a profound media realignment. The studios have been working for years to begin to create gigantic information farms where pretty much everything they've ever created will one day be available for streaming and instant access. But before they put the crown jewels up digitally forever, they have to make sure they can protect their ability to control that information. That they make coin from every transaction. On the surface, much of what is being done is to shut down the great information sharing sites - where pirate copies of pretty much the entire collective of the world's media is traded, without a dime going to the rightful artists & faceless corporations that have acquired the rights to their work.
I agree that the studios and artists have a right to protect and profit from their intellectual property. It's just the kinds of powers they're asking to guarantee their profits & property can be used in terrible manners. Destroying the ability for us to share information. To share knowledge. I've had my fair share of scary lawyer emails, and their are times where AICN has stood up and told corporations where they can shove it - and there are times when we realize that what the suits are asking is fair and just.
What we have here on the internet is something unbelievably amazing. A way to share everything that we are and love. The ability to know how long every line at Disneyworld is at any given moment on a phone... to navigate in places you've never been... The ability share what we've experienced...
AICN was one of the first sites to really make a splash in regards to letting folks know things that previously, we weren't privy to. That a film play test screenings. That pictures leak early. Sometimes trailers. That folks can read scripts and let ya know if a film has a chance of being worth a shit.
I've worked for years to make sure that the writers on AICN are free to write what they feel, honestly and without the pressures of any corporate concerns. These bills would put an end to a lot of that. Information would have to slow down. Every story would be weighed. And the comments, they would have to be done away with, or strictly monitored.
Shutting down TALKBACK is something I never want to see happen. Sure, a shit ton of ya are disappointed in me and AICN. We're not living up to our potential. I take a brunt of the blame, and everytime I see it in Talkbacks or in a letter from one of you dear readers that write to tell me to get my shit together... it brings a smile. Because you care enough to bitch.
You take us to task. That's fantastic. You foreign readers, this is an American affair, but it would seriously fuck with the fun US sites you enjoy. And if you run a blog from overseas - did something a little independent, and you could find your US traffic gone. But what happens if these laws get used by even darker powers. If suddenly they start wanting everything to be family friendly - and they start banishing sites for language. Again, AICN would become completely and properly fucked, because I do love my colorful rants.
I'm big on INTERNET FREEDOMS - I wouldn't be who I am without this blessed digital ALEXANDRIA - and I'll be damned if I see it burned like the ancient one. WHY have I never sold AICN - and I have had incredibly lucrative offers that would have left me grotesquely rich. Like some other media folks. I want AICN to be independent forever. We love the big pop films of the studios, but we also are our own people.
This week, I have to call all the editors on AICN to talk about their content on the site. Simply, we all have to write more. Things are changing on AICN, I know you hear that a lot, but things will be different on here, if you give us a chance to.
How can you do that?
Quite simply, at a time like this we need you to contact your Representatives and Senators via the links below - and we need you to oppose SOPA and PIPA.
The founding fathers wanted to guarantee a freedom of the press, I would argue that the Internet has given the founding fathers their dream in a fashion that i absolutely do think they would be proud and dazzled by. The growth of citizen reporting combined with the astonishing connectivity of social media - we're on the precipice of some truly great societal changes.
SOPA and PIPA would smash that press into something dictated by giant corporations & a government that too often serves the needs of their largest contributors.
BUT - do not take my word for it. I cried in ARMAGEDDON. I thought GREEN LANTERN was fun. It is best that you simply read up on this. Start here on Wikipedia's SOPA and PIPA- Learn More page. They have quite a bit of information and links to read up on the situation. Personally - after reading up, go here - that'll take you to a TUMBLR page that has a very convenient and efficient method of lodging your opinion on this matter with the proper authorities.
But if you enjoy the freedoms of the internet - and do not wish that all the content you take for granted each morning, noon and night - that it be protected. Well, give a shit. Make a phone call, send an email. Read a little. Give a shit, please!
