saboma:

American Censorship Day November [16th]

What the hell is the exact definition of an “infringing link”??  I hate these over-simplified “infographics” that fail to define basic terms. The fact that there is no definition of “infringing link” makes me want to ignore the whole thing.  I am so sick of people on either “side” of the political “aisle” failing miserably at properly informing the people they are trying to persuade.  This is a bad infographic because it does a great job of inspiring fear but a shitty job of, you know, actually providing information.

And it’s not just the lack of an “infringing link” definition.  Look at the “As a result” section.  It represents what website self-censorship is like now and will be like after SOPA passes.  Before SOPA, it’s a small circle.  After SOPA, the circle is MUCH LARGER!! OMG!!  THAT CIRCLE IS WAY BIGGER!!  How bigger?  Well, I can’t tell since there are NO NUMBERS describing the circles.  This is all beside the fact that there is no way to measure self-censorship in a future we haven’t lived in yet.  In short, this ven-ish diagram has zero basis in fact. In other words, it’s made up just to scare the shit out of you.

The same can be said for the line graph next to it.  Before SOPA, you see the number of new startups rises!  But after, it goes down. :( BUT THE DATA POINTS AREN’T NUMBERED, so we have NO WAY OF KNOWING WHAT THEY MEAN!!! This, also, is beside the point that this line graph does the same thing the ven-ish diagram does—it makes shit up about the future—there’s no proof that the number of new startups will go down after SOPA.

Under the “HOW DOES THIS AFFECT” section, it would be nice to see the part of the law that explains email providers would have to censor email with infringing links. It would also be nice to know how social networks could possibly censor the links of hundreds of thousands of users, especially when URL shorteners can be used to mask the links.

As I mentioned, this infographic fails to mention what an infringing link even is and that inspires even more fear than the even bigger circle of self-censorship or the non-specific datapoints in the “new startup” line graph.  What IS an infringing link?!?!  Is THIS an infringing link?  Is THIS?  Would YOU be posting an infringing link by linking to this post?  OMG!!  WE LIVE IN SOVIET RUSSIA!!

It’s a shame propagandists get hired to make “info”graphics like this, instead of good human beings who want to properly inform people.  Especially since the truth about this bill is probably very terrifying.  

THANKS FOR THE FEAR MONGERING, AMERICANCENSORSHIP.ORG!