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In response to your voices, consideration of both PIPA and SOPA has been indefinitely postponed!
“This is altogether a new effect,” said former Senator Chris Dodd, now head of MPAA and key PIPA/SOPA promoter, comparing the online movement to the Arab Spring. He had not seen in his 40 years in politics “an effort that was moving with this degree of support change this dramatically.”
Ron Paul (R-TX), PIPA applauded the Internet Blackout, saying "Sometimes you need a two-by-four to get them to listen." We're happy to report that craigslist users logged over 30,000two-by-fours phone calls to Members of Congress Wednesday, and they did not go unnoticed. :-)
These bills WILL return, and both are so deeply flawed they must die entirely, so the fight is not over.
As of end of day Thursday, and before the postponement announcements, 19 Senators had dropped their support for PIPA, at least 6 of whom had been co-sponsors of the bill (!) Check it out on PIPA Roll Call.
PIPA and SOPA authors and supporters insist they'd only go after foreign piracy sites, but Internet Engineers understand this is an attempt to impose "Big Brother" controls on our Internet, complete with DNS hijacking and censoring search results. Incredibly, many Congress Members favor this idea.
Tell Congress you OPPOSE Senate 968 "Protect IP Act" (PIPA) and H.R. 3261 "Stop Online Piracy Act" (SOPA):
Opponents of PIPA and SOPA: Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia, craigslist, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, eBay, AOL, Mozilla, Reddit, Tumblr, Etsy, Zynga, EFF, ACLU, Human Rights Watch, Darrell Issa (R-CA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Ron Paul (R-TX)
Where does your Member of Congress stand on PIPA and SOPA? (Project SOPA Opera)
PIPA and SOPA Are Too Dangerous To Revise, They Must Be Killed Entirely
Congress needs to hear from you, or these dangerous bills will pass - they have tremendous lobbying dollars behind them, from corporations experts say are attempting to prop up outdated, anti-consumer business models at the expense of the very fabric of the Internet -- recklessly unleashing a tsunami of take-down notices and litigation, and a Pandora's jar of "chilling effects" and other unintended (or perhaps intended?) consequences.
For example, in a post about Monster Cable lobbying for PIPA, Techdirt points out Monster has blacklisted craigslist as a "rogue site" -- resale of stereo cables by CL users has apparently cut into Monster's profits. (reddit).
There is still time to be heard. Congress is starting to backpedal on this job-killing, anti-American nonsense, and the Obama administration has weighed in against these bills as drafted, but SOPA/PIPA cannot be fixed or revised -- they must be killed altogether.
Sen Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Rep Ron Wyden (D-OR) are championing an alternative to SOPA/PIPA called Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act (OPEN) that addresses foreign sites dedicated to piracy, without disrupting basic Internet protocols, or threatening mainstream US sites like craigslist.
Tim O'Reilly, a publisher who is himself subject to piracy, asks whether piracy is even a problem, and whether there is even a legitimate need for any of these bills.
Learn more about SOPA, Protect IP (PIPA), and Internet Blacklisting:
Still have questions? try our CraigsList help desk discussion forum or send us a note.
“This is altogether a new effect,” said former Senator Chris Dodd, now head of MPAA and key PIPA/SOPA promoter, comparing the online movement to the Arab Spring. He had not seen in his 40 years in politics “an effort that was moving with this degree of support change this dramatically.”
Ron Paul (R-TX), PIPA applauded the Internet Blackout, saying "Sometimes you need a two-by-four to get them to listen." We're happy to report that craigslist users logged over 30,000
These bills WILL return, and both are so deeply flawed they must die entirely, so the fight is not over.
As of end of day Thursday, and before the postponement announcements, 19 Senators had dropped their support for PIPA, at least 6 of whom had been co-sponsors of the bill (!) Check it out on PIPA Roll Call.
Californians please note: among the remaining PIPA co-sponsors are craigslist's and the SF Bay Area's own Dianne Feinstein (D-CA) 202-224-3841, and SoCal's Barbara Boxer (D-CA) 202-224-3553
- Boxer/Feinstein PIPA Sponsorship demoralizes Daily Kos, Ready To Dump Dems
- Feinstein: "Filtering the Internet Does Not Violate Free Speech"
- Raging Grannies Open Letter to Diane Feinstein
- Say Nopa to Sopa (Robert X Cringley)
PIPA and SOPA authors and supporters insist they'd only go after foreign piracy sites, but Internet Engineers understand this is an attempt to impose "Big Brother" controls on our Internet, complete with DNS hijacking and censoring search results. Incredibly, many Congress Members favor this idea.
<RANT>Try to imagine jack-booted thugs throttling free speech,
poisoning the Internet (greatest of American inventions, the very pillar
of modern democracy), and devastating one of the our most successful
industries. Totalitarian, anti-American, massively-job-killing
nonsense.</RANT>
Tell Congress you OPPOSE Senate 968 "Protect IP Act" (PIPA) and H.R. 3261 "Stop Online Piracy Act" (SOPA):
- Phone your Member of Congress via nifty Progressive Change app
- Contact Senators who are refusing to meet with constituents about PIPA.
- Reverse Robocall pro-PIPA & pro-SOPA MOC + Lobbyists (More at Ars Technica)
- EFF Action Center - Strike Against Censorship - Congressional Emailer
- ECA Congressional Emailer - Don't Censor Our Internet!
- OpenCongress Congressional Emailer - Oppose SOPA
- Generic Congressional Emailer (You'll need your Zip+4)
- Petition Congress - Protect Innovation, Dump SOPA (Progressive Change )
- Outside the US? Sign Petition Opposing US Censorship of Global Sites (EFF)
Opponents of PIPA and SOPA: Google, Yahoo, Wikipedia, craigslist, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, eBay, AOL, Mozilla, Reddit, Tumblr, Etsy, Zynga, EFF, ACLU, Human Rights Watch, Darrell Issa (R-CA), Ron Wyden (D-OR), Nancy Pelosi (D-CA), Ron Paul (R-TX)
Where does your Member of Congress stand on PIPA and SOPA? (Project SOPA Opera)
PIPA and SOPA Are Too Dangerous To Revise, They Must Be Killed Entirely
Congress needs to hear from you, or these dangerous bills will pass - they have tremendous lobbying dollars behind them, from corporations experts say are attempting to prop up outdated, anti-consumer business models at the expense of the very fabric of the Internet -- recklessly unleashing a tsunami of take-down notices and litigation, and a Pandora's jar of "chilling effects" and other unintended (or perhaps intended?) consequences.
For example, in a post about Monster Cable lobbying for PIPA, Techdirt points out Monster has blacklisted craigslist as a "rogue site" -- resale of stereo cables by CL users has apparently cut into Monster's profits. (reddit).
There is still time to be heard. Congress is starting to backpedal on this job-killing, anti-American nonsense, and the Obama administration has weighed in against these bills as drafted, but SOPA/PIPA cannot be fixed or revised -- they must be killed altogether.
Sen Darrell Issa (R-CA) and Rep Ron Wyden (D-OR) are championing an alternative to SOPA/PIPA called Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act (OPEN) that addresses foreign sites dedicated to piracy, without disrupting basic Internet protocols, or threatening mainstream US sites like craigslist.
Tim O'Reilly, a publisher who is himself subject to piracy, asks whether piracy is even a problem, and whether there is even a legitimate need for any of these bills.
Learn more about SOPA, Protect IP (PIPA), and Internet Blacklisting:
- Growing Chorus of Opposition to PIPA and SOPA
- Open Letter against SOPA from 83 Prominent Internet Engineers
- Why SOPA and Protect IP (PIPA) are Bad, Bad Ideas (Techdirt)
- Piracy not a problem, PIPA and SOPA are unnecessary (Tim O'Reilly on GigaOM)
- PIPA and SOPA News (Google News)
- PIPA Wikipedia entry ::::: SOPA Wikipedia entry
- SOPA FAQ (CNET)
Still have questions? try our CraigsList help desk discussion forum or send us a note.
