What do you mean "No Free Speech"??????

Is it really online piracy?  Well there is legislation out there that wants to limit information you can get from places like Google and Wikipedia. 

Wikipedia proudly proclaims:

Imagine a World
Without Free Knowledge

For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia. Learn more.



Wikipedia was built by the people for the people by collecting information from various sources and putting it in one location.  To me, this bill is trying to regulate what should not be regulated : The freedom of speech.  There are also those in Congress who want to tax internet purchases and monitor any and everything written.  That includes us as Bloggers.  Think about it, most of us blog about things we have seen or read somewhere else.  We give commentary on current events, news articles, celebrity gossip and more.  With this new pending legislation, it equates to censorship.  I mean really, how can you tell me if I talk about something that I have read elsewhere like on CNN etc, that it equates to piracy.  That is ludicrous.  How do these bills protect intellectual property?  Well let's look at what IP is :

Intellectual property (IP) refers to creations of the mind: inventions, literary and artistic works, and symbols, names, images, and designs used in commerce.
IP is divided into two categories:  Industrial property, which includes inventions (patents), trademarks, industrial designs, and geographic indications of source; and Copyright, which includes literary and artistic works such as novels, poems and plays, films, musical works, artistic works such as drawings, paintings, photographs and sculptures, and architectural designs.  Rights related to copyright include those of performing artists in their performances, producers of phonograms in their recordings, and those of broadcasters in their radio and television programs.

So how does a collection of facts and historical items equate to intellectual property?  If the entry is talking about Edgar Allen Poe and it cites his works and gives credit to the source which are books etc, how is that different from any other encyclopedia with the exception that it is online?  Let's be real here, this is really about money.  At the end of the day, it is about charging for the regurgitation of information.  That is like telling me I can't quote someone when I am talking.  You can't regulate me talking so just how are you going to regulate someone typing?!?!?!?