There’s no gray area when it comes to illegally downloading music. I’m not talking about how harmful it may or may not be to artists, or preaching about how clicking on a link to get a free song here and there is the viral equivalent to grand theft auto or armed robbery.

I’m talking about how it is 100 percent legal, and expected, for Congress to prevent online piracy. Therefore, proposing the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) to Congress and it’s equivalent, the Protect IP Act (PIPA), to Senate has a very reasonable basis behind it.

However, when the proposal of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) prompted websites like Wikipedia to protest said acts, a mass of confused Americans lashed out at Washington with “#stopSOPA” tweets and angry Facebook statuses.

I do not support SOPA or PIPA, but I recognize that Congress has a duty to prevent intellectual property theft. Piracy is wrong. Period.

SOPA and PIPA are not evil because they attempt to make Americans listen to lawfully obtained music, or pay $1 to go rent a movie for a night instead of streaming it on my laptop. No, they’re bad because of the implications that their power will have on legally operating websites.

Here’s an easy way to look at it: pretend a shopping mall is a website. There are thousands of lawful exchanges that take place within a mall every day and all is well. But one day, a store manager is caught selling cigarettes to minors and, as a result, the entire mall is shut down forever.

SOPA and PIPA use this same all-or-nothing approach to deal with file sharing websites. A website that trusts it’s users to upload and share files in a legal manner is one court order away from being blacked out.

Admittedly there are some file sharing sites infested with pirated media, and sites like these deserve to be punished for their carelessness. SOPA has the potential to be abused and misapplied, but with some amendments to check some of its power, it’s by no means unconstitutional.

Artists have a right to be paid for their music. It doesn’t matter how much money these bands and artists receive. Bands and musicians have overwhelming come out in protest of SOPA and PIPA because they’re familiar with the concept of utility, that many of the sites that have been abused to pirate music offer more harm than good for their transactions that take place legally.

SOPA and PIPA are no friends of mine, but the youth of America need a wake-up call: Pirating music is illegal, and Washington still has a right – a duty – to stop it from happening.