You may have noticed that Wikipedia and Craigslist are down today. That’s in protest of two bills, “SOPA” and “PIPA”, which have been bankrolled by Hollywood.

The stated goal behind these bills – combating piracy – is not a bad one. I believe strongly in intellectual property rights. (And the technology industry has created the most valuable intellectual property of the last two decades, so I suspect most tech people do too.)

But these two bills are really not about piracy. They’re about one industry trying to get Congress to give them an uneven playing field over another – and equip the government with the tools to “take down” sites without due process.

Google has the best explanation of these bills and a petition you can sign to tell Congress “stop piracy, don’t end liberty.”

I hope you will.