Let's keep our eyes open...

After SOPA and PIPA acts were defeated by the protests against them last Wednesday, I've been seeing mixed reactions to the news.

Some were ecstatic, since the voice of the people was heard by the Senate and the House. While others where rather pessimistic, saying that we just postponed the defeat of the free and open Internet.

My take is a bit more pragmatic. Yes, we do have reason to celebrate and be happy about the result. The voice of those who defend the free and open Internet, and all what it stands for, was heard. Yet, we need to remain vigilant to the threats that will continue to appear from those who want to put limitations to the Internet.

And while it's true that there is a chance that a law with the same aims as SOPA and PIPA are going to keep being proposed, thus the Internet will be always be threatened by those who want to limit it. But, our defeat is not set on stone.

Neither are our victories.

The truth, is that we need to remain vigilant. We need to keep constantly keep checks on the government and companies, so that no laws can be passed that hinder our rights.

There always will be people that feel threatened by changes that take away the power they've gathered, or that fail to adapt and innovate in order to keep themselves relevant. So, they try to keep things as they were by passing laws or playing the system to keep their edge.

That's why we need to keep our guard up, and to press the changes needed to fix things in order to keep big companies from stepping on the new comers.

And the best way to do so, is to band together to defend our rights and freedoms. If we don't, we are truly headed to a world where we our voice won't be heard.