The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as H.R. 3261 is a bill that was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on October 26, 2011. The bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice (DoJ), as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement.*
Similar to SOPA, the PROTECT IP Act or S.968, (PIPA) establishes a system for taking down websites that the DoJ determines to be "dedicated to infringing activities." In some cases, action could be taken to block sites without first allowing the alleged infringer to defend themselves in court.**
As artists, inventors, educators, writers, creators, and dedicated citizens, we believe in the importance of protecting individuals' intellectual property, but these bills are too broad and go far beyond addressing issues of internet piracy. If passed, they will infringe on First Amendment rights, enable Internet censorship, weaken Internet security, destroy jobs and cripple the Internet.
Open letters in protest of SOPA/PIPA have been written to Congress from some of the most influential and important members of the internet community including the founders of Google, Twitter, Flickr, Yahoo!, The Huffington Post, LinkedIn, Youtube, Paypal, Craigslist, eBay, Wikipedia, Blogger, and a group of eighty-three engineers instrumental in the creation of the internet, to name a few.
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IN ORDER TO STOP THESE BILLS, EVERYONE READING THIS MUST:
CALL or E-MAIL your Congressional Representatives and let them know that you do not support this bill and won't vote for them if they support it.
It's easy! Visit this website to call and then do the Take Action Checklist:
http://tinyurl.com/
Congress will be voting on this when they reconvene in January 2012, so make sure their inboxes and voicemails are flooded when they get back!
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Here are links to two of the open letters:
https://www.eff.org/
http://news.cnet.com/
Check out these videos for a more thorough explanation of the implications surround the passage of SOPA/PIPA:
http://tinyurl.com/
http://tinyurl.com/
What is the difference between PIPA and SOPA? Not much.
http://tinyurl.com/
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TAKE YOUR OWN PHOTO.
Take a photo of yourself with tape over your mouth and write "SOPA" on it. Upload it to Facebook and copy-and-paste this description. Tell your friends about it!
Educate yourself!
Get the word out!
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*excerpted from Wikipedia. Read the full bill here:
http://
**excerpted from OpenCongress. Read the full bill here:
http://
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