Dreamwidth Needs Your Help - STOP Censorship!
What do they think this is, China?
Because in China, the government can determine that they don't like you or what you have to say and then they can block your URL and domain name from coming up in any search engine - no one will ever find you and read your blog, your ideas or your porn. Your slash and gen and poetry and filksongs and fan art and anything THEY DON"T LIKE will be blocked forever, and good luck to you finding anyone with your same interests.
Worried? You should be, because in Washington DC they are proposing that we do exactly the same thing in this country - give some straight-laced idiots our government the right to decide what is and isn't appropriate to post on the internet.
Here is the Dreamwidth information, which I'm including here to support them. And then I'm going to call my Senator and tell him exactly what I think. Every day until this stupid idea is thrown OUT.
Dreamwidth Studios
Pending in the United States legislature are two bills, closely related, that are designed to grant broad, new powers to the government in the name of fighting piracy and theft on the Internet. These bills are known as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA, HR 3261, Wikipedia) and the PROTECT-IP Act (PIPA, S 968, Wikipedia). You've probably heard about them by now.
Dreamwidth Studios is a small American business that earns its livelihood on the Internet. We provide a space for the creation and sharing of legal content and in no way support or condone piracy or the theft of Intellectual Property. Laws like SOPA and PIPA, if passed, pose a very real and serious risk to the continued viability of sites like ours. If you are a United States citizen, we urge you to please take a few minutes and contact your elected officials about this legislation:
http://fightforthefuture.org/pipa/
If you are not a United States citizen, you can still help. Spread the word about these laws. If passed, this will not just affect people who live in the US -- it will affect everybody who uses web sites based in and/or owned by American businesses.
We believe that this message is in keeping with our Guiding Principles, which include:
Freedom: We believe in free expression. We will not place limits on your expression, except as required by United States law or to protect the quality and long-term viability of the service (such as removing spam). We will provide you with tools that make creativity and free expression easy. If, at any point, we have to place restrictions on your expression, we will tell you why, and work to find the best solutions possible.
We believe that these laws pose a very real risk to our ability to deliver on that belief. We stand against these laws and hope that you will join us.
Thank you for reading.
Sincerely,
Mark Smith, co-owner
Denise Paolucci, co-owner
Dreamwidth Studios staff and volunteers
Because in China, the government can determine that they don't like you or what you have to say and then they can block your URL and domain name from coming up in any search engine - no one will ever find you and read your blog, your ideas or your porn. Your slash and gen and poetry and filksongs and fan art and anything THEY DON"T LIKE will be blocked forever, and good luck to you finding anyone with your same interests.
Worried? You should be, because in Washington DC they are proposing that we do exactly the same thing in this country - give some straight-laced idiots our government the right to decide what is and isn't appropriate to post on the internet.
Here is the Dreamwidth information, which I'm including here to support them. And then I'm going to call my Senator and tell him exactly what I think. Every day until this stupid idea is thrown OUT.
Dreamwidth Studios
Pending in the United States legislature are two bills, closely related, that are designed to grant broad, new powers to the government in the name of fighting piracy and theft on the Internet. These bills are known as the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA, HR 3261, Wikipedia) and the PROTECT-IP Act (PIPA, S 968, Wikipedia). You've probably heard about them by now.
Dreamwidth Studios is a small American business that earns its livelihood on the Internet. We provide a space for the creation and sharing of legal content and in no way support or condone piracy or the theft of Intellectual Property. Laws like SOPA and PIPA, if passed, pose a very real and serious risk to the continued viability of sites like ours. If you are a United States citizen, we urge you to please take a few minutes and contact your elected officials about this legislation:
http://fightforthefuture.org/pipa/
If you are not a United States citizen, you can still help. Spread the word about these laws. If passed, this will not just affect people who live in the US -- it will affect everybody who uses web sites based in and/or owned by American businesses.
We believe that this message is in keeping with our Guiding Principles, which include:
Freedom: We believe in free expression. We will not place limits on your expression, except as required by United States law or to protect the quality and long-term viability of the service (such as removing spam). We will provide you with tools that make creativity and free expression easy. If, at any point, we have to place restrictions on your expression, we will tell you why, and work to find the best solutions possible.
We believe that these laws pose a very real risk to our ability to deliver on that belief. We stand against these laws and hope that you will join us.
Thank you for reading.
Sincerely,
Mark Smith, co-owner
Denise Paolucci, co-owner
Dreamwidth Studios staff and volunteers