NewNews - SOPA and PIPA endangers the internet

What is:
-Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)
-Protect IP Act (PIPA)

So anyone who uses the internet on a daily basis must have heard about the two bills put into consideration of passing that protects the rights of copyright holders (in other words, corporations).  That, or some may realize that their favorite search engines, online encyclopedias, web-comics, and gaming blog news have been blacked out or references it.  It's a bit complicated to describe what SOPA and PIPA would "exactly" do as it is a bit vague in itself of what would be considered legal or not when the bill passes.

I'm not entirely sure of every detail of the bills, but I will try my best to explain what would happen were the bills passed: Any sign of copyrighted materials not belonging to the owner of the site it's on is susceptible to having the site shut down for copyright infringement.  These two bills are being discussed as a method of stopping the circulation of copyrighted piracy and counterfeits.  That is the gist of it.

It's great that the government wants to protect people and companies of their intellectual property (IP) and copyrights, but such an extreme method would solve very little and harm a lot to free speech and to the economy.  Imagine if the bills were passed and websites started to blackout:
-Social sites such Facebook, LinkedIn, or MySpace would longer be able to share links, pics, or videos
-Friends would no longer be able to share links or videos on sites or forums
-It endangers sites of collected information such as Wikipedia, VGmuseum, etc. from continuing
-User created or fan-made media wouldn't be allowed (Youtube, Deviant Art, SoundCloud, etc.)
-Any hint of copyright infringement may cause sites to go down and go into long delegations of resolution
-Foreign sites, personal sites, and small business sites would/could be blocked out from search engines
-No freedom to share and talk about interests of copyrighted materials (such as this blog)
-Small businesses and entrepreneurs wouldn't be able to mediate against user shared materials on their sites before they get their site shut down
-Major news media wouldn't be able to report anything (yahoo, AOL, gamasutra, maybe even CNBC)

The list can keep going as it affects many sites, users, and companies that have nothing associated with copyright infringement, piracy, or the circulation of counterfeit materials.  The internet would become extremely business and corporate orientated that it will just come down to making more money for those who own all the major businesses.  Innovation would be impossible and shared knowledge would cease.  All these two bills would do eventually in the future is blind everyone from everything else in the world and show only things the government wants us to see.  Anyone and everyone can help stop these two bills from passing.  To learn more, check out the links below.

-Contact your representatives with Wikipedia
-Learn more about SOPA and PIPA from:
  -Wikipedia
  -Google
-Companies and Media who are opposed to SOPA and PIPA and their thoughts