Now or Never

anoncentral:

Consider this your call to action.

I know that we all love this site as an expression of our individuality, but the fact of the matter is, we are under attack. And what we do is distracting us from that fact.

The American government now has all the records from Megaupload’s servers. Do you know what that means for you? That means that if you have ever used Megaupload, the government has your fucking number. And they will come for you.

You doubt what I’m saying? The government has been after Jamie Rasset, a single mother, now for years for $1.9 MILLION for downloading 24 songs from Kazaa. She’s been appealing, and they’re still coming after her.

$1.9 MILLION. FOR 24 LOUSY SONGS. And they will not let off.

Now look at your music folder. How many songs do you have? How many movies, how many books? It’s going to cost you $150,000 for EVERY SINGLE PIECE OF COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL. How much are you going to be out?

And you can’t escape it. Even if you claim bankruptcy, you can’t escape it. They’ll toss you in jail because you can’t pay.

So no matter what you do, you. Are. FUCKED.

And this is your call to arms. This is when you stand up. I don’t care if you’re a kawaii blog, a grunge blog, a nerd blog, a pony blog. It doesn’t matter what you post. Because I am calling on you to get this word out. Think it doesn’t affect you? Just wanna bury your head in the sand? Fine. Guess what? The government doesn’t care how much you ignore it.

In fact, they’re counting on it. Because if you ignore it, it makes it so much easier for them to come after you.

You cannot hide from the government, because they will hunt you down like a rabid animal. And in ignoring this, you are CONDONING THEIR ACTIONS.

Imagine this, for a moment. You go to a website, enjoy their content. You link it to your blog. But the site you linked has copyrighted material. I hope you’re ready to land in jail. Because it’s already happened. Richard O’Dwyer, A UK RESIDENT, is in the process of being extradited to the US for doing just that: LINKING TO COPYRIGHTED MATERIAL.

Look at all those gifs you have, all the ones you’ve posted. Starting to realize how this is going to affect you? Everything you have on your computer that’s copyrighted, everything you’ve ever posted that’s now on the tumblr servers, if those are seized, becomes evidence. Anything you ever linked to on Facebook, evidence, because it’s there permanently. Even deleting it does no good, because it’s still there on the server.

If you’re still not convinced this is going to affect you, goddess, I envy your ignorance. Because the fact of the matter is, they will come after you for this, eventually. It may not be today, it may not be tomorrow, but it will happen.

You need to make your voice heard.

If you are a musician, use your voice and your music to speak up.

Artists, paint the world with the word of this injustice.

Bloggers, writers, anyone with any access to social media, SHOUT IT FROM THE ROOFTOPS.

WE CANNOT ALLOW THIS INJUSTICE TO STAND. WE CANNOT GO SILENTLY. I AM CALLING ON ALL OF YOU NOW TO MAKE YOUR VOICES HEARD BEFORE IT IS TOO LATE!

I AM CALLING ON ALL OF YOU TO TAKE 5 MINUTES OUT OF YOUR DAY AND SPEAK YOUR MIND. LET IT ALL OUT. SAY WHAT YOU REALLY THINK! If we’re all fucked, and this is coming down on our heads, THEN GET THE WORD OUT NOW!

WE CANNOT BE DIVIDED BY OUR DIFFERENCES ANY LONGER.

WE CANNOT ALLOW THEM TO SILENCE US.

WE CANNOT AND WILL NOT ALLOW THIS TO STAND. BECAUSE WE ARE THE VOICE OF THE WORLD!

That’s right, you. The person reading this right now. Think of it. Millions of voices from around the world, all speaking out, singing the same song in perfect harmony, saying WE WILL NOT BE SILENT IN THE FACE OF THIS OPPRESSION.

Because they want your information. They want you to be complacent, a happy little sheep in their giant corral. Because the more sedate you are, the easier it is to slowly steal your rights until you’re nothing but a mindless automaton, another cog in the machine.

And do you really want that? Do you want the reality of Huxley and Orwell to come to light, Big Brother watching our every move, monitoring our spending and our viewing habits, coming down like the Sword of Damocles hanging over your head, barely there, only a hair holding it up from swinging down and taking you?

Or do you want to be the ones to wield the power? Do you want to be the ones saying “NO. WE BROUGHT YOU HERE, WE CAN OUST YOU!”

If there is one thing I’ve learned over the past year, it is that the people have power. Look at Egypt, at Libya. The people took back the power, and it changed things. They stood up to their government and affected change, because they stood up as a UNITED FRONT!

And that, my dear Tumblrers, is what I ask of you. Reblog this if you can’t think of the words to say. Say it with music that you love, with your own message attached. Make a gif if it’s your form of expression.

BUT FOR THE LOVE OF GOD, DON’T JUST SIT THERE AND DO NOTHING. It doesn’t matter how old you are, or where you live. It doesn’t matter what race, what religion, what gender you are, or your orientation. It doesn’t matter if your blog only covers certain subjects.

Because soon, the way things are going, this will all be gone if we don’t fight.

The internet, as we know it, will no longer exist.

There will be no more free media. No more access to the television shows you love so much. No more free access to music. No more free articles on the latest fashions, or the latest trends. No, this will all be gone, replaced by whatever the government sees fit.

So please, PLEASE, if you love the internet, if you love your fandom, your fashion, your gifs, your music, your movies, your facebook, your twitter, your blog, your anything that you get from the net, MAKE YOUR VOICE HEARD.

I’ll close this essay with a poem that truly does fit, for all of you that don’t believe this will affect you. I’m changing it a bit to better fit the subject matter of this essay/rant/plea:

First they came for the downloaders,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a downloader.

Then they came for the youtubers,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a youtuber.

Then they came for the bloggers,
and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a blogger.

and I didn’t speak out because I wasn’t a social networker.

Then they came for me
and there was no one left to speak out for me.

Thank you for your time. Goodnight, my fellow tumblrers. I hope to continue seeing you for a long time to come…If not, it was an honor blogging with you all. And ask yourself this: If they come for you, how will you feel knowing you could have helped to prevent this if you’d just spoken up in the first place?

(via letscall-l)