SOPA, Megaupload, and The Future of Blogs

First off, I would like to apologize for not posting for quite some time, as I am in the middle of fixing issues with my other sites. Please allow me to make use of this blog post to share my view on SOPA and the corresponding bill, PIPA, including the Internet blackout on January 18, 2012 and what I think of the future of the blogosphere.

SOPA was worrying…

To tell you the truth, I was also busy worrying about SOPA/PIPA, and although I am living outside the US AND don’t care about politics, I do care that SOPA/PIPA would affect my websites – so… I am directly affected.

And yes, I sign a petition, too!

As you might have known, we who up against SOPA and PIPA have won – for now… all thanks to the 13 million people worldwide who join the fight against Internet freedom (along with 50,000 websites that went dark in protest.) For the big picture of the outcome of SOPA Strike on January 18, 2012, here it is in numbers, and here’s one of the coverage on the victory.

Megaupload – busted

Not long after the victory over SOPA, Megaupload was slammed for internet piracy and money laundering by the FBI. Competitors, including Filesonic, soon cleaned up its drawer from pirated content.

Although it’s not related to SOPA, but now storing pirated software online has some serious consequences to the file hosters (well, it should be!) This could impact other industries, such as cloud computing.

The future of blogs

I sincerely thanks Google Panda updates, as they reward blogs with unique, quality content. So, bloggers – as long as you are providing value for your readers, just like Ana Hoffman’s Traffic Generation Cafe (yeah, just like Lisa, I’m a fan of Ana) you can stay clear out of problems.

Now, with the SOPA issues and Megaupload legal problems, it seems that we should do some spring cleaning on our blogs. Not being paranoid, but I think it’s better safe than sorry. So, what to clean up? Here are some ideas…

• Check whether the images you use in your post have been properly attributed.
• Be sure you don’t use copyrighted content on your blog without proper permission.
• Don’t link out to sites that host questionable content, such as copyrighted content.
• Remove useless blog comments (i.e. “great post!”) and low-quality blog posts (i.e. short and meaningless.)

I’m a big fan of blogs and blogging, and despite the harsh prediction that blogs will eventually becoming obsolete, I still believe the future of blogs and blogospheres.

So, are you ready to embrace the future of blogs and blogging?

Image: cvukom / SXC.HU