Velveteen Rabbi: Stop SOPA and PIPA

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Stop SOPA and PIPA

January 18, 2012

Image borrowed from this post at storify.

Many of the internet's leading websites are "going dark" today to protest, and raise consciousness of, the danger of the impending passage of SOPA and PIPA, two pieces of US legislation which run the risk of destroying the internet as we know it.

I'm not going dark per se, but instead of posting new Velveteen Rabbi content today, I'm linking instead to the following articles. Please become informed on this issue and (if you are a US citizen) consider reaching out to your elected representatives to urge them not to let these bills pass.

Boing Boing will go dark on Jan 18 to fight SOPA & PIPA. "On January 18, Boing Boing will join Reddit and other sites around the Internet in "going dark" to oppose SOPA and PIPA, the pending US legislation that creates a punishing Internet censorship regime and exports it to the rest of the world."
"Internet Censorship Affects Everybody": Rebecca MacKinnon on the Global Struggle for Online Freedom."If we want democracy to survive in the internet age, we really need to work to make sure that the internet evolves in a manner that is compatible with democracy," MacKinnon says. "And that means exercising our power not only as consumers and internet users and investors, but also as voters, to make sure that our digital lives contain the same kind of protections of our rights that we expect in physical space."
MIT Media Lab opposes SOPA, PIPA."SOPA – the Stop Online Piracy Act – and a sister bill, PIPA – the Protect IP Act – seek to minimize the dissemination of copyrighted material online by targeting sites that promote and enable the sharing of copyright-protected material...[E]ntrepreneurs, legal scholars and free speech activists are worried about the consequences of these bills for the architecture of the Internet."
OTW action on SOPA/PIPA."The internet has been abuzz recently with comments about the 'Stop Online Piracy Act' (SOPA) currently under debate in the US House of Representatives, and its counterpart the 'Protect IP Act' (PIPA) in the Senate. Organizations such as the EFF and the Library Copyright Alliance have raised concerns that the bills - which are ostensibly aimed at curbing 'rogue' foreign sites - have significant implications for the web internationally, and will work to curb free speech and online creativity."
SOPA/PIPA: What's Up With That? "First up, this infographic, which sorted my brain and the various bits of disparate knowledge I had in it about these pieces of legislation in about 30 seconds flat (below it, you’ll find a few links to more information)..."
Stop American Censorship. "On Wednesday Jan. 18th thousands of sites will go dark to protest SOPA & PIPA, two US bills racing through Congress that threaten prosperity, online security, and freedom of expression..."

Posted at 07:00 AM in tikkun olam | Permalink | Comments (1)

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Image borrowed from this post at storify.

Boing Boing will go dark on Jan 18 to fight SOPA & PIPA. "On January 18, Boing Boing will join Reddit and other sites around the Internet in "going dark" to oppose SOPA and PIPA, the pending US legislation that creates a punishing Internet censorship regime and exports it to the rest of the world."
"Internet Censorship Affects Everybody": Rebecca MacKinnon on the Global Struggle for Online Freedom."If we want democracy to survive in the internet age, we really need to work to make sure that the internet evolves in a manner that is compatible with democracy," MacKinnon says. "And that means exercising our power not only as consumers and internet users and investors, but also as voters, to make sure that our digital lives contain the same kind of protections of our rights that we expect in physical space."
MIT Media Lab opposes SOPA, PIPA."SOPA – the Stop Online Piracy Act – and a sister bill, PIPA – the Protect IP Act – seek to minimize the dissemination of copyrighted material online by targeting sites that promote and enable the sharing of copyright-protected material...[E]ntrepreneurs, legal scholars and free speech activists are worried about the consequences of these bills for the architecture of the Internet."
OTW action on SOPA/PIPA."The internet has been abuzz recently with comments about the 'Stop Online Piracy Act' (SOPA) currently under debate in the US House of Representatives, and its counterpart the 'Protect IP Act' (PIPA) in the Senate. Organizations such as the EFF and the Library Copyright Alliance have raised concerns that the bills - which are ostensibly aimed at curbing 'rogue' foreign sites - have significant implications for the web internationally, and will work to curb free speech and online creativity."
SOPA/PIPA: What's Up With That? "First up, this infographic, which sorted my brain and the various bits of disparate knowledge I had in it about these pieces of legislation in about 30 seconds flat (below it, you’ll find a few links to more information)..."
Stop American Censorship. "On Wednesday Jan. 18th thousands of sites will go dark to protest SOPA & PIPA, two US bills racing through Congress that threaten prosperity, online security, and freedom of expression..."