Help fight internet censorship and SOPA!

Every few years, the internet has to deal with a greedy politician or corporation trying to censor it, in the hope of obtaining more money. Now it's that time again. Some guys are begging for the internet to be policed, with a new bill called SOPA. Many users are worried because several countries are showing signs of accepting it. I doubt it will pass, but it's never the less important for everyone who is against this to oppose that movement. It's a very dangerous initiative, that can even allow bringing websites down for very interpretable reasons!

Mozilla has a site specifically for this, where you can sign a petition. http://www.mozilla.org/sopa/ Apparently, that's an US only page, and will only work with American ZIP codes. If someone outside of America still wishes to sign it though, you can use a fake ZIP. I found several on this web page. More info can be found on google... just look up SOPA.

I know this sort of thing gets old and annoying, but I'd rather be safe than sorry. If you don't agree with the internet being censored, please sign that and any anti-SOPA petitions on the internet, and tell everyone who might be interested about this (or spread the news around in other places however you can). Thank you.

A short video explaining SOPA/PIPA

SOPA is the house's version and PIPA *warning PDF* is the senates. Look at all the organizations supporting/buying these bills, The money trail. fuck them and fuck SOPA/PIPA. I'm glad I donated to the Electronic Frontier Foundation this last humble bundle .

Senator Wyden of Oregon has said he will filibuster the bill if it comes down to it.

I don't have much faith in Internet petitions or form letters sent to your reps, its easy for them to ignore you or just respond with another form letter using a lot of words saying nothing in particular but thanking you for contacting them about your issue none the less

On November 16 tumblr set up 'protect the net' where they called people with talking points and then connected them to their representatives. That generated 87,834 calls in to the reps. So thats something.

I hope SOPA/PIPA do not become law but its not looking good.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=you...hwuXNv8fJM

This video explains very well what these laws do. And why you do not want them.

FYI. Someone made a petition on the government's website, where people can sign against SOPA. Not sure how much they'll care, but anything is worth trying. Registering there just to sign it. http://wh.gov/DfY

This video here is quite relevant as well:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhwuXNv8fJM

Aw this forum doesnt have the [youtube] does it?

Exact the same link as I posted

Exact the same link as I posted

Yeah I guess I wasn't paying attention

Its a good link though!

After seeing this video, I suddenly realized I might have been very blind. Guys... are you sure they're doing this because some movie companies feel like they're losing a few millions from the billions they make every year? Because I'm willing to bet they're doing it to implement something like the Great Firewall of China... and for the same purposes too.

China does it so people won't badmouth their government and turn their citizens against them, and because some leaders are fanatics who believe watching porn is evil and must be censored. The US is a big and important country, and has a government willing to take some very dark decisions at times. They control most of the media, so the internet is the only way people find out about any junk they do. This probably disturbs them a lot. Would they really want millions of people talking to each other openly and knowing everything, without some law they can abuse to censor what crosses the line?

Sorry for unleashing more conspiracy theories everyone. But if this is true, it's the first move in switching to a totalitarian government. And the only thing that can stop it is people reacting and NOT letting it happen! They might want to shut people up so they can do what any evil leadership does, without people being able to inform each other about it and to keep them in the dark! This is something worth considering and informing people about... because America CANNOT be allowed to become the new world's dictatorship like this!

News: I received an email from a newsletter I'm subscribed to. A new voting date has been established for the senate version of SOPA, and it will be on January 24 (in 18 days from now). We need to convince more senators to destroy this bill, and show them the true consequences it would have. Currently there are only 2 out of 41 needed! The best way at this point seems to be an in-person meeting with our senators (if possible with friends joining up), and spreading the news so others can do it too. Here is the link. If you live in the US, please consider doing this... it's a chance to destroy the bill permanently!

News: I received an email from a newsletter I'm subscribed to. A new voting date has been established for the senate version of SOPA, and it will be on January 24 (in 18 days from now).

Thanks for the update! Also, may want to keep your eye on PIP.

Is it just me or does it seem weird that an act passed in the US has this much impact on other countries? I realize they control most of the internet, but they're far from being the only ones to use it. Seems like maybe they should be consulting with other countries?

...not that that would help. China already has a firewall. NVM, bad idea. Gov is gov.

Anyway, I did talk to a state representative (which is like a state-level congressman). I don't think he can directly do anything about it, but I informed him about it, and he seems conservative enough to go against it.
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I heard google and youtube (owned by google) and some other big companies are boycotting this (they're smart enough to realize this will hurt them I guess). Come across any info on this?

Guys, victory! SOPA is dead! The news just came a short time ago

https://www.examiner.com/computers-in-de...kills-sopa

http://boingboing.net/2012/01/16/sopa-is...enate.html

http://www.dailytech.com/Ding+Dong+SOPA+...23791c.htm

However, as stated by many people, PIPA is still alive! It's basically the same thing as SOPA but under a different name. It needs to be our next target, and we need to focus all the energy we put against SOPA on it to kill this too. PIPA is the last evil that needs to be defeated, after that the internet is safe. I dearly hope things go the same way here. We're very close to saving the internet!

SOPA is not dead. Just set aside. Don't celebrate, there is no significant victory.

however, it is a small victory, in that we protested, and they listened. numerous politicians, including obama himself declared that they will not support sopa, and fight against it. Hopefully they will do the same for PIPA

Details about Wikipedia's blackout and why they're still doing it:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:S...Learn_more

it is a small victory, in that we protested, and they listened. numerous politicians, including obama himself declared that they will not support sopa, and fight against it.

When was the last time they (as a group) told the truth, the whole truth, and nothing but the truth?
Honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if they tried to slip it in through a bigger bill unnoticed (This happened with several things in the obama healthcare plan, I can easily see it happening with the upcoming stimulus).
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Check out my avatar! looks like ompldr is fighting it too (is hosted there). Go omp! Go wikipedia!
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Joining the fight:
Craigslist
Wordpress
EqD
Wired
google (blacked out their logo, I think the search engine still works)
(more...)
A list: http://www.cdt.org/report/list-organizat...osing-sopa
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And this

Congressional staff, meanwhile, sent out messages defending the bills. “Websites ‘going dark’ today in protest of the PROTECT IP Act will not be affected by enactment of the legislation,” said one. “None of the following websites meet the definition of a site dedicated to infringing activities: Wikipedia; YouTube; Flickr; Twitter; Google; craigslist; eBay; The Huffington Post; Yahoo!.”

Did he actually read the bill?

No, it's not over, and the senators withdrawing their support is not a long-term victory. This stuff will come back until american voters and the politicians responsible for this educate themselves about modern technology and democracy. As they said on Reddit, expect similar bills in the future, but this time called "Stop child pornography". Lamar Smith is working on one of those, it's harder to go against it without hurting your public image (because quite a lot of voters are an ignorant bunch).

Don't fight them.

SOPA drop in bucket compared to :http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti-Counte..._Agreement

Yes, it harms us Europeans too, perhaps even harder than SOPA.

• ACTA Anonymous english (german subtitles)
  
• ACTA german
  

But i dont know, what can we do? We must try to stop it!

This is really going to frighten me! I bet these people who are signing that act don´t know how to use a computer. And even if they know how then they´ll shoot themself in the foot because nearly everybody would be affected by this law.

By the way: In my country (Germany) this act would transgress our German Basic Law, see articel 5 paragraph 1! There it also says that there is no censorship! So what the hell are they doing?! Shouldn´t politicians know the law of their country?

As far as America is concerned, they know what they're doing, and they know the MPAA can make them even richer. It's not that they are technophobic, but money in higher in their priorities than freedom on the Internet.

This internet lost its taste.... Let's make a new one.

Any news about ACTA? I am scared that it is so silent around this topic.