The Daily Tar Heel
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The Daily Tar Heel

On Thursday, U.S. Senator Kay Hagan (D–N.C.) issued a statement reaffirming her support for legislation that will limit the accessibility of Internet sites like Wikipedia.

As Hagan’s constituents, UNC students are in a position to influence decision-making in the national arena. If they hope to continue to be able to use websites like Reddit and Wikipedia as they have in the past, students must make their voices heard.

Furthermore, current college students’ age and familiarity with the Internet lends their SOPA-related protests greater credibility than most other complaints.

In her Thursday statement, Hagan acknowledged that some changes would need to be made to the bills before they are put to a vote. This is a gross understatement.

PIPA is the sister bill of the more widely publicized SOPA, which, according to opponents, could make censorship easier and lead to the complete shutdown of some user-generated websites.

For the most part, the components of this bill actually aimed at stopping piracy are perfectly reasonable. Its other provisions, however, are severely misguided.

The primary problem is that the laws would place culpability for the dissemination of pirated material on the administrators of user-generated sites, not on the users who upload the content.

An analogy would be dropping a nuclear bomb on an otherwise friendly and productive nation because a few rogue residents acted objectionably, without their government’s knowledge or endorsement.

PIPA and SOPA should be scrapped, and new, more specific bills should be proposed in their stead.

The beauty of user-generated content is that anyone with relevant experience can be an authority. As people across the country give impassioned defenses of the legitimacy of sites like Wikipedia, college students should remember that they are authorities here, too.

This is the generation of students who saw Wikipedia progress from a hodgepodge of questionably factual information to a generally reliable source.

So, Generation Wikipedia, take five minutes this weekend to reach out to Senator Hagan.

Her Raleigh offices can be reached at (919) 856-4630, and the number for her Capitol Hill offices is (202) 224-6342.

Students who call might not get an answer, but they will certainly send a message.

Given PIPA and SOPA’s anti-Internet agenda, however, Facebook and Twitter might be the most fitting methods of communication. Find a hashtag, start following Hagan, and tweet away.

Those who think their opinions won’t make a difference should take note of the toll anti-SOPA/PIPA momentum has already taken on the bill’s support.

Already, some of the bill’s initial sponsors have withdrawn support.

In short, it is clear that concerns about SOPA/PIPA won’t fall on deaf ears. There’s no reason not to give it a try.

Since the Senate plans to begin voting on this issue Tuesday, you must act soon if you want your voice to be heard.

Today’s young people are frequently accused of gaining and losing interest in issues as quickly as the latest YouTube phenomenon comes and goes.

This issue isn’t one to ignore. #stopSOPA

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