(Find it here)
Did you enjoy having your favorite sites redirected, blacked out, or blocked in some form or fashion today? If you didn't, then you're not alone. For the record, we didn't enjoy blocking them, but our message is clear.
The two bills currently in the United States Congress must be stopped.
SOPA and PIPA, should they pass as they are written right now, would forever change the face of the internet, and it would directly affect every fandom that's every graced an internet site.
Today we, as a community of people who use the internet everyday, came together to do something remarkable. We affected change. In fact, we were so swift about it that the United States Congress has had some of the quickest turn around regarding these proposed bills than it has had with any legislation before. It is unprecedented.
We, the internet community, lobbied. We did so via fax, email, phone calls, site blocking, and - yes - even good old fashioned protesting of the take-it-to-the-street-in-a-nonviolent-way protest. We spoke out, and we were heard.
Congratulations, we shook the establishment. We spoke louder and stronger than any one lobbyist or small group with lots of money could yell, and our government had to listen. But the fight is not over. It has just begun, and, if we want to keep our internet as it is, we must continue to fight.
The first step is to stay educated.
What is SOPA/PIPA?
From CBSNews.com
SOPA and PIPA instead target the platform -- that is, the site hosting the unauthorized content.The bills would give the Justice Department the power to go after foreign websites willfully committing or facilitating intellectual property theft -- "rogue" sites like The Pirate Bay. The government would be able to force U.S.-based companies, like Internet service providers, credit card companies and online advertisers, to cut off ties with those sites.[...]The legislation in question targets foreign companies whose primary purpose is to sell stolen or counterfeit goods -- but opponents say domestic companies could still be held liable for linking to their content. While sites like Reddit wouldn't have a legal duty to monitor their sites all the time, "you might have your pants sued off of you" if you don't, said Jayme White, staff director for the Senate Finance Subcommittee on international trade.[Please read the rest of the article here]
What does this all mean? As the bills are written right now, it means that, for websites like Tumblr, Facebook, Google, blogging websites, other types of search engines, and any websites that allow users to upload or link to content outside of the site itself, any time a user uploaded content without permission from the content's owners it could put the entire company that owns that site under the gun and, very possibly, shut the site down completely.
The bills allow corporations to sue the providers (search engines, blogging sites, etc) to remove the links to sites outside the US that have the unauthorized content. It also allows the US government and corporations to cut off money to these providers by having advertisers and payment services that are based in the US and working with the provider in question cut off funds to that provider. What's more, big companies can sue smaller companies if they think those smaller companies aren't doing enough to filter their content to prevent copyright infringement issues.
The cost to any of these types of companies to continually monitor all user uploaded content would be immense, and, frankly, impractical for a large company; smaller companies wouldn't have a chance. It would be easier to not try to startup a new company or webite or to shut a site down than worry with the headache of trying to keep the potential lawsuits at bay.
If its easier to put extreme restrictions on social sites and search engines or shut them down completely than try to keep ahead of possible infringement issues caused by user groups, then a slippery slope takes hold where our freedom of speech is narrowed down until there's nothing at all.
Watch this video. We mean it. We'll wait right here until you're done.
PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.
What Can We Do?
We've already done a great deal. Today proves that what we say has merit and weight, but we must keep doing what we've been doing if we are to win the war.
If you live in the United States, protest in every way you can, and make sure to contact your US Senator and US Representative through every channel available to you. Make your voice heard, and make certain the US Congress knows that we're serious about keeping our internet as it is.
Here you can pledge to vote against any congressperson who is for either of these acts.
The following are just a few of the protest petitions you can add your name to:
Go here to contact your Congresspeople:
The most important thing is to keep yourself informed of what's happening with these bills. Right now, Congress has set them on the back burner while they do more "research", and several key people who were co-sponsoring these bills have backtracked and said they no longer support them. However, this proposed legislation will be back up for discussion in February [see article here] in the US Senate. When that happens, we need to be ready, and we need to make certain our voices are heard loudly and clearly before then so our government knows exactly where we stand.
Today we made history. We stood united against something that would cause massive destruction of the free flow of information online. Let's keep the momentum alive and continue to push to ensure that it always stay a free flow of information.
Links you should also go to:
- How Corp. Lobby's Arguments Don't Hold Up
- White House Responds to Anti-SOPA Petition
- Why A Published Author is Against SOPA/PIPA
- What Congress Doesn't Understand About the Internet
- NPR Talks About the Blackout
- Overall Look at the Bills, Who Supports, Who Doesn't, & Where It Is In Congress's Process
- 5 Things You Should Know About SOPA
- PIPA Co-Sponsor Sen. Marco Rubio Pulled Support & SOPA Co-Sponsor Rep. Ben Quayle Pulled Support
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