Thursday, January 19, 2012

From Chris Bowers Campaign Director, Daily Kos

Two months ago, under tremendous pressure from lobbyists, Congress was on the brink of passing bad legislation with the potential to destroy the social internet: the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate.

As originally written, these bills gave corporate copyright holders the ability to cut off funding and compel the government to shut down websites they deemed infringing, without the need of a court order (see 
here). The bills were expected to pass with little opposition, because content industry lobbies like the Motion Picture Association of America are so well-entrenched in Congress.

Then something unexpected happened. A massive online revolt against censorship has 
nearly ground the two bills to a halt. Today, millions of Americans are joining together to finish them off.
Please, take thirty seconds to email your senators and tell them to oppose the Protect IP Act.

Online activists have made astounding progress against these bills:
  • On December 16, SOPA was expected to pass the House judiciary committee, but it was delayed due to unexpectedly fierce opposition;
  • Last week, in an attempt to try and placate the unrelenting opposition, some of the more heinous aspects of the two bills were removed;
  • On Friday night, SOPA was delayed further;
  • On Saturday, the White House came out against both SOPA and PIPA as they are currently written;
  • This week, the number of senators declaring public opposition to PIPA has more than tripled from five to nineteen;
Today, some of the most popular websites in the country are shutting down to show everyone what the internet could be like if SOPA or PIPA become law. Because of this, millions of Americans who are finding out about SOPA and PIPA for the first time are contacting their members of Congress in outrage.

Please, join with them and make sure the Senate hears you before it votes on PIPA next week. 
Send an email now.

Keep fighting,
Chris Bowers
Campaign Director, Daily Kos

P.S. Help support Daily Kos by 
chipping in $5.

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