Why SOPA/PIPA matters to crocheters/knitters/crafty folk
I’m positive you all have heard about SOPA and PIPA by now. Especially if you’re visiting tumblr today. Tumblr’s front page had a whole write-up about it with links encouraging people to contact their representatives, bless them. Needless to say, this is a major deal and this will affect everyone.
Yes, everyone. Not just pirates, not just internet geeks, but you and me as well. Crocheters and Knitters alike will suffer from this. How? Well let’s say you have a shop on Etsy where everything you create is completely original and free from copyright infringement. Your shop has been relatively successful and you have come to rely on it as a supplement to your income.
Then one day, you go to sign on to Etsy and BAM! Your shop is gone. Not just your shop, everyone’s shop. In fact, Etsy is no more. There’s been no warning, absolutely no due process. Your shop is just gone. Why? Because someone posted one item on their store that is a copyright infringement and they were caught. Under SOPA/PIPA, a website can be indefinitely blocked without any notice or warning if it contains or links to copyrighted material. This means websites like Facebook, Reddit, and yes, Etsy can be held responsible since they are liable for what their users post. Unfair? You bet your sweet 5mm hook it is.
(“Y CANT I SEE MY CABLE KNIT SWEATERS???” - an Etsy Seller)
If you think I’m full of hyperbole, I assure you I’m not. Etsy is very likely to end up on a blacklist under SOPA/PIPA. All artists who rely on Etsy to sell their wares can be punished for this.
(This came up when I googled “artist in jail”. I wish I was kidding. What is this I don’t even.)
Now for those of you like me who don’t have a store on Etsy, you might be thinking “Ok but that still doesn’t apply to me.” Wrong again! I often crochet popular characters from anime/video games/tv shows etc. as gifts. Since I’m proud of my work, I often post pictures of it on facebook, twitter, and here. But now, I can get in trouble for it.
That’s a picture of an ami I made of Nightcrawler in 2008 as a Christmas present for a dear friend. Under SOPA/PIPA, posting this picture could actually get me in trouble. Tumblr could get in trouble because of it. Tumblr could actually get shut down because I was proud of my work and I wanted to share it. Never mind the fact that I made it as a personal gift (for free) without any pattern.
I don’t like pirates anymore than anyone else but this is ridiculous. Doctors don’t treat an open bloody wound by hacking the person’s arm off along with the arm of anyone else in the ER. It’s been proven by experts that these bills will not stop piracy. All these bills will do is create mindless censorship, stifle the development of internet start ups, and over all make the internet less fun for everybody.
(Look at how sad Benedict Cumberbatch is. Do we really want a world full of this sad face?)
We’re artists; we seek to bring beauty into the world with just some yarn, a hook, and an idea. But if these bills pass, we will lose a huge medium to share our work with others. And while we create to make ourselves happy, we also create to bring joy and happiness to others. Why else would we yarn bomb a bike rack if not to draw attention and make something a bit more beautiful/interesting to everyone?
(I love the flowers! So cute!)
Therefore I encourage all of my fellow crocheters (hookers) as well as knitters and artists of every medium to stand up and oppose these bills so we can still have a place to connect with others for our work. If we want to stop our intellectual property from being pirated, let’s do it in a way that doesn’t take innocent causalities and harm our audience. To find out more about SOPA, click here and here and here. You can also take action here and here. Write, phone call, mail, yarn bomb, it doesn’t matter how but make your voices heard!
