If information and knowledge is something that is important to you, consider taking a moment today to contact your representatives and tell them to vote no on SOPA and PIPA (more info below). Please pick up the phone and make a call, rather than send an email, as phone calls have a much greater impact. American Censorship has declared today to be a "massive call-in day" and wants Senate phones in particular to be flooded with calls today.
"The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) would ruin so much of what's best about the Internet: They will give the government and corporations new powers to block Americans' access to sites that are accused of copyright infringement, force sites like YouTube to go to new lengths to police users' contributions, and put people in prison for streaming certain content online." - StopCensorship.org
In the House, the bill is called HR 3261: Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA): "This bill would establish a system for taking down websites that the Justice Department determines to be dedicated to copyright infringment. The DoJ or the copyright owner would be able to commence a legal action against any site they deem to have "only limited purpose or use other than infringement," and the DoJ would be allowed to demand that search engines, social networking sites and domain name services block access to the targeted site. It would also make unauthorized web streaming of copyrighted content a felony with a possible penalty up to five years in prison."
Find your Representative in the House
In the Senate, the bill is called S 968: Protect IP Act (PIPA): "Establishes a system for taking down websites that the Justice Department determines to be "dedicated to infringing activities." The DoJ or the copyright owner would be able to commence a legal action against the alleged infringer and the DoJ would be allowed to demand that search engines, social networking sites and domain name services block access to the targeted site. In some cases, action could be taken to block sites without first allowing the alleged infringer to defend themselves in court."
Find your Senator
More information & reading:
Stop Censorship
American Censorship, Round 2
Washington Post article, 11/19/11
SOPA Wikipedia article
PIPA Wikipedia article
I'm turning off commenting for this post. Sorry for censoring you guys, but if you have a comment to make, please call your Senator and tell them.
