SOPA Strike

[SLWalker]

Okay, ladies and gentlemen; for those of you in the good old USA, and indeed, even those not...

Ad Astra is planning on joining in the internet blackout to protest SOPA/PIPA tomorrow, from 8AM to 8PM, EST.  This decision mostly comes from the fact that fanworks, such as ours, would be very easily targeted under this legislation.  Not that we aren't already vulnerable to such things, just by virtue of creating derivative works, but this legislation in particular is worrisome.  And not only for us good folks, but for the entire internet as we know it.

What can you do to help?  Spread the word.  Call your congressman and senators.  Make a big fuss.  Tell them that it is not okay to vote for this, and that you can use your vote to remove them if they fail.  We have amazing momentum; let's keep it up, shall we?

Thank you.

PS - Review Hunt winners, go check the thread.  You have banners!

[Guest Guest]

Thank God I'm not publishing anything! But I'm far more worried about the National Defense Authorization Act, giving the president of the USA legalized power to kill any USA citizen considered a terrorist.

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed...ng-bill-rights

To sum up, if you're a terrorist or a USA citizen suspected of being a terrorist, you're days could be numbered...

This bill has already been passed and no one protested about, because most of you guys were distracted by SOPA. SOPA is trivial compared to the NDAA. Besides with SOPA you're fighting the common Jo Bloggs because the USA government just hast to say 'terrorism' and 'in the best interests of national security' and Jo Bloggs will just go along with SOPA. There have been arguments that SOPA could somehow damage the USA's economy (why that is I don't know), but that is the only thing that may stop the congress people and senators overwhelmingly approving SOPA.

Good luck with the strike, but if you really want to send a message to the USA government, stop spending your money out like mad, and watch the USA tax revenues plummet and the deficit soar. THEN you will have the USA's government's attention.

[SLWalker]

Oh, I protested NDAA too.  Unfortunately, there simply weren't enough voices there.  Please don't make assumptions about 'us guys'; many of us are very politically active.

[Guest Guest]

Yeah sorry about that, but I didn't see anything in these forums about NDAA, so I presumed not many of you were paying attention to it.

[SLWalker]

There was no internet blackout planned for NDAA.  There is for SOPA/PIPA.

[Miranda Fave]

And mentioning politics is always a sure way to find out just who is active to boot! LOL! Thus I always avoid such topics. However, as much as it will pain to have no Ad Astra for a day, this is a good cause to support.

[And on a side note: supporting one cause never means getting distracted from other important causes. And, though I am not one of them, some people are just plain brilliant at multitasking and having lots of irons in the fire at the one time. ]

[jespah]

I've written to my Congressdude about SOPA.  I realize this link says Conservative but it seems to include all Congressfolk: http://www.conservativeusa.org/mega-cong.htm e. g. it's got the entire Mass. delegation even though our only token Republican is Scott Brown.

[Nerys Ghemor]

I emailed my legislators, and also called the office of the congresscritter in the next district over and threatened to send funds to a primary challenger if they didn't withdraw their support of SOPA.

[kes7]

Glad we're participating in this.  Will be contacting my designated vermin in DC tomorrow.

[Guest Guest]

Contact Ron Paul about matters like this! If Ron Paul does become the Republican presidential nominee to challenge Obama, then he is probably the only person to really offer some change and shake up the status quo. I don't agree with Ron Paul about all his ideas, but he's consistant and he has his head screwed on.

[trekfan]

I might as well not even go on the internet tomorrow, everyone and everything is shutting down. ::sigh::

I've already posted on my reps FB page and sent him an email-he actually responds to that stuff, so I'm hoping it'll be enough. If not, I'll call him up (or his wife, she's cool, she's from town) and pass along the message.

[Guest Guest]

Well I'm here in Britain, sitting on my lardy arse, so good luck guys (USA ones)!

[jespah]

I won't be on much anyway (meeting with a recruiter - I actually have what to do out in the meat world).

It'll be a chance to get the challenge entry ready to rock and roll, too.

[Miranda Fave]

Do you know what - even though I avoid political debates - but having watched West Wing for years and studied politics for years the thing I do love about American politics is the way you can stick it to them and push your issues in ways like this. That's pretty awesome. And well done one and all for protesting.

[Gul Rejal]

"Blackout" means the website will disappear for 12 hours?

Well, if that's what has to be done, then that's what has to be done!

[funngunner]

Fully plan to find something I want to pirate tomorrow. If they are gonna try and pass that damnable legislation, I'm at least going to get penny's worth of flesh from them.

[Guest Guest]

Good news everyone, the BBC is covering this blackout and its one of the articles on its front page, and the main article on its world section. So at least this is being noticed by media outlets outside of the USA.

[jespah]

Kewl - will be watching that and CNN.com and Boston.com as time permits today.

[SLWalker]

Our twelve hour blackout is now concluded.  Thanks to everyone supporting a free, open and innovative internet!

[MrPicard]

The protests were noticed and reported about over here as well, so, the world does indeed notice this. Well done guys! 

[Guest Guest]

Here is an article about the general efforts to stop SOPA and PIPA:

http://www.zerohedge.com/contributed/update-sopa-and-pipa

SOPA may go through, and since Obama signed and secretly endorsed the NDAA, I bet he'll do a 180 turnaround and sign SOPA through as well if it gets passed in both congress and the senate.

[jespah]

Got a nice note back from my Congressdude -

Thank you for contacting me regarding the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), as well as the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property (PROTECT IP) Act. I appreciate hearing your thoughts and share your concerns on this issue.

H.R. 3261, SOPA, was introduced by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX). The intent of the bill is to address online copyright infringement activities and to promote the use of legitimate material online. Particularly aimed at websites that are not registered in the  United States , this legislation would allow the Department of Justice to shut down access to suspected offending sites for users in the  U.S.  While  I do think online copyright infringement is troubling and we should work together to find ways to protect intellectual property, this bill goes too far. Freedom of expression in America is too valuable a principle and until we can find a balanced way to achieve these goals, I will oppose this bill and attempts to limit free speech.

H.R. 3261 has been referred to the House Judiciary Committee, where it awaits further action.    In the Senate, S.968, the PROTECT IP Act, was introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy (D-VT) with language and intent similar to SOPA. The PROTECT IP Act passed the Senate Judiciary Committee and awaits consideration on the Senate floor. Please be assured that I will have your views in mind as I continue to closely monitor the progress of SOPA and the PROTECT IP Act.

Thank you again for writing to me. If my staff or I can be of any further assistance, please do not hesitate to contact my office.

                                                                            Sincerely,

                                                                            Michael E. Capuano