Today, November 16th, is American Censorship Day. It is so named because today the House Judiciary Committee will hold hearings on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). SOPA, also called the Enforcing and Protecting American Rights Against Sites Intent on Theft and Exploitation Act, or E-PARASITE Act, is the House equivalent of the Senate’s PROTECT-IP bill.
We have to stop SOPA & PROTECT-IP or the Internet that has fostered knowledge and free speech for over twenty years could be dead.
If passed, SOPA would create a variety of ways for corporations and the US government to censor the Internet. Like the Senate’s PROTECT-IP bill, SOPA would:
- make simply linking to an infringing website a crime;
- allow the US blacklist an infringing website without due process, by forcing third-parties to censor the website or stop doing business with the website;
- extend most of the tools the US has to private copyright holders;
- not penalize a private copyright holder if they blacklist a site in error;
- not penalize a payment provider if they ignore the counterclaim of a blacklisted website;
- the bill’s definition of what is infringing is very loose and will be abused.
SOPA goes farther than the PROTECT-IP bill and would also:
- criminalize streaming of copyrighted material, even if it was a kid singing a song on Youtube;
- criminalize tools that could be used to circumvent SOPA including VPNs and the TOR network;
- decrease the security of the domain name system every computer uses to look up host names.
We know we can win since a majority of Americans oppose the measures that SOPA would impose to prop up the failed business models of the large media corporations.
Please call your Representatives at the numbers listed below and urge them to oppose SOPA:
- 1st Congressional District – John Olver – (202) 225-5335 / (413) 532-7010
- 2nd Congressional District – Richard Neal – (202) 225-5601 / (413) 785-0325
- 3rd Congressional District – James McGovern – (202) 225-6101 / (508) 831-7356
- 4th Congressional District – Barney Frank – (202) 225-5931
- 5th Congressional District – Niki Tsongas – (202) 225-3411 / (978) 459-0101
- 6th Congressional District – Jonathan Tierney – (202) 225-8020 / (781) 595-7375
- 7th Congressional District – Ed Markey – (202) 225-2836 / (508) 875-2900
- 8th Congressional District – Michael Capuano – (202) 225-5111 / (617) 621-6208
- 9th Congressional District – Stephen Lynch – (202) 225-8273 / (617) 428-2000
- 10th Congressional District – William Keating – (202) 225-3111 / (617) 770-3700
To find out who your representative is, please visit Where Do I Vote MA and enter your address.
Please do it now.
Next In-person Mtg. is Nov. 27th
We need your help to fight SOPA and help Pirates run for office in 2012. Please join us on Sunday, November 27th for our monthly in-person meeting. It will start at 3pm and will be at 25 Moore St. in Somerville. We hope you can make it!
Also, our weekly Mass. Pirate Party chat will be this Monday at 9:30pm. To get on:
- Go to our Talk with us on IRC page
- Fill out the web form with the Nickname of your choice and enter #masspirates in the Channel box next to it, then click the Connect button
- Start typing and reading
The agendas and meeting minutes are at our wiki. It is a bit sparse now, but we are adding past meeting minutes as quickly as we can.
A Few Updates
The How 2 Run 4 Office class Captain James O’Keefe gave on Oct. 30th had ten attendees and the Lowell class will be soon. Please download the latest version. If you can help us find a location for this class in your area and/or put up publicity, please contact email or call/txt us at (617) 863-6277 (MAPP).
We condemned the recent efforts to clear various Occupy sites around the country.
All 1000 of Nina Paley’s Intellectual Pooperty mini-books have been distributed.
We put up new posters on our site that you can put up in your area or use to advertise your own local events.
Today, November 16th, is American Censorship Day. It is so named because today the House Judiciary Committee will hold hearings on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). SOPA, also called the Enforcing and Protecting American Rights Against Sites Intent on Theft and Exploitation Act, or E-PARASITE Act, is the House equivalent of the Senate’s PROTECT-IP bill.
We have to stop SOPA & PROTECT-IP or the Internet that has fostered knowledge and free speech for over twenty years could be dead.
If passed, SOPA would create a variety of ways for corporations and the US government to censor the Internet. Like the Senate’s PROTECT-IP bill, SOPA would:
SOPA goes farther than the PROTECT-IP bill and would also:
We know we can win since a majority of Americans oppose the measures that SOPA would impose to prop up the failed business models of the large media corporations.
Please call your Representatives at the numbers listed below and urge them to oppose SOPA:
To find out who your representative is, please visit Where Do I Vote MA and enter your address.
Please do it now.
Next In-person Mtg. is Nov. 27th
We need your help to fight SOPA and help Pirates run for office in 2012. Please join us on Sunday, November 27th for our monthly in-person meeting. It will start at 3pm and will be at 25 Moore St. in Somerville. We hope you can make it!
Also, our weekly Mass. Pirate Party chat will be this Monday at 9:30pm. To get on:
The agendas and meeting minutes are at our wiki. It is a bit sparse now, but we are adding past meeting minutes as quickly as we can.
A Few Updates
The How 2 Run 4 Office class Captain James O’Keefe gave on Oct. 30th had ten attendees and the Lowell class will be soon. Please download the latest version. If you can help us find a location for this class in your area and/or put up publicity, please contact email or call/txt us at (617) 863-6277 (MAPP).
We condemned the recent efforts to clear various Occupy sites around the country.
All 1000 of Nina Paley’s Intellectual Pooperty mini-books have been distributed.
We put up new posters on our site that you can put up in your area or use to advertise your own local events.