There’s an internet “blackout” going on right now over the SOPA and PIPA bills that are making their way through congress.
Evidently, these bills will place the burden for policing user-contributed content on site owners, and that would really suck for me. In fact, it might mean I’d have to shut off open comments and moderate every single comment, which would not only negatively affect user experience, but would also be an enormous waste of time. Furthermore, I’d have liability for what any nut posted in comments, and that just isn’t fair. Feminists have long wanted to hold me responsible for what totally independent, random posters comment, and so far I’ve been able to simply tell them to go to hell. These bills may change that.
Please contact your senators and representative and urge them to oppose this stupidity. Individual responsibility is at the heart of our republic, and freedom. This means that citizens should not be held liable for the actions or words of others, over whom they have no power in any event.
