For those who haven't heard, today a bill is being proposed in Congress that would really ruin the neutral nature of the internet.
From the EFF (
source):
"The Internet Blacklist Legislation - known as PROTECT IP Act in the Senate and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House - is a threatening sequel to last year's COICA Internet censorship bill. Like its predecessor, this legislation invites Internet security risks, threatens online speech, and hampers Internet innovation. Urge your members of Congress to reject this Internet blacklist campaign in both its forms!
Big media and its allies in Congress are billing the Internet Blacklist Legislation as a new way to prevent online infringement. But innovation and free speech advocates know that this initiative is nothing more than a dangerous wish list that will compromise Internet security while doing little or nothing to encourage creative expression.
As drafted, the legislation would grant the government and private parties unprecedented power to interfere with the Internet's domain name system (DNS). The government would be able to force ISPs and search engines to redirect or dump users' attempts to reach certain websites' URLs. In response, third parties will woo average users to alternative servers that offer access to the entire Internet (not just the newly censored U.S. version), which will create new computer security vulnerabilities as the reliability and universality of the DNS evaporates.
It gets worse: Under SOPA's provisions, service providers (including hosting services) would be under new pressure to monitor and police their users’ activities. While PROTECT-IP targeted sites “dedicated to infringing activities,” SOPA targets websites that simply don’t do enough to track and police infringement (and it is not at all clear what would be enough). And it creates new powers to shut down folks who provide tools to help users get access to the Internet the rest of the world sees (not just the “U.S. authorized version”).
Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has placed a hold on the Senate version of the bill, taking a principled stand against a very dangerous bill. But every Senator and Representative should be opposing the PROTECT IP Act and SOPA. Contact your members of Congress today to speak out!"
Sound bad enough already?
WRITE CONGRESS. They're not allowing dissenting parties to be present at the hearing today, just the corporations that want this bill to pass.
As a user of the Internet, don't you want it to stay free and neutral?
http://americancensorship.org/
Using this official site, enter your info (if you don't want to tell your address, just put your general town/city and a fake email) and a letter will be sent telling Congress that you, like so many others online, DON'T APPROVE of this restrictive and unfair bill!
Wondering why you haven't heard of this, even though it's being brought before Congress TODAY?
This major event is flying under the radar of major media because the people who "run"/own the mainstream media will benefit from this controlling bill; they aren't going to inform you that they're supporting this.
Don't let your voice go un-heard!
[size=10]/urgent advocacy message. I don't usually get this passionate about stuff, but this will certainly effect our community if it passes![/h]