This is important — Congress is considering two bills (“Protect IP” and “SOPA”) that would let the government or any corporation censor the internet, using the same DNS-blocking techniques as Iran or China.
PROTECT IP Act Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.
The bills are ostensibly to stop copyright and trademark infringement, but they won’t. Instead– they’ll let the government shut down almost any social media website, since any site can be shut down just for audio, video, text, or even *links* posted by its users. Any corporations will have the power to bankrupt any website or organization by cutting it off from payments, advertising and donations– without so much as a court order.
The law is being pushed by some of the strongest lobbies in Washington, it has broad bipartisan support, and it’s likely to pass in some form. As a company we have been active against it: this week we will be participating in a nationwide call-in day. Can you join me, and help me spread the word by calling your congressmen tomorrow?
Join us here: http://americancensorship.org/
Learn more about Protect IP and SOPA with these articles:
- SOPA’s ugly message to the world about America and internet Innovation- Washington Post
- Stop the Great Firewall of America – New York Times
- House takes Senate’s bad Internet censorship bill, tries making it worse
- Protect The Internet
- SOPA: Hollywood Finally Gets A Chance to Break the Internet
- SOPA on OpenCongress
- PIPA on OpenCongress
Learn more at http://americancensorship.org/
What do you think about these proposed bills?