SOPA (Stop Online Pirating Act)! This effects you.
(reposted from game_byrd's LJ)
How You Can Stop SOPA
[click this link, follow the directions - they're easy and painless]
Although the House is supposed to be the mid-winter recess, representatives like House Judiciary Chairman Lamar Smith (R-Texas) continue acting as lobbyists on behalf of SOPA's financers rather than acting on our behalf as elected representatives. Please help thwart the undue influence of media businesses who are trying to circumvent the will of the average American via SOPA. Fight SOPA and tell Congress they need a more effective, less destructive law to handle online piracy.
SOPA can and will effect fanworks and the sites that post and host them. People you know, art you admire, writing you've done, websites like AO3, YouTube, LiveJournal, Dreamwidth, InsaneJournal, Photobucket, Image Shack, Google, deviantArt, Vimeo, reddit- basically any website with user submitted content WILL be affected.
Websites without user submitted content (i.e. Hulu, Netflix, etc.) will be unaffected.
This means that the wild, adorable, terrifying, romantic, otherworldly, realistic, deeply personal, glamorous, infuriating, magical, poetic perspectives that we take on canon will be vulnerable to blocking and blacklisting, lawsuits and censorship.
I don't know about anyone else but I would sure miss you guys and your wonderful imaginations, talent and heart.
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And below is a sample email text you could send to your congressperson:
Congressman/Congresswoman ______:
After some thorough research and considered thought, I can only conclude that the SOPA bill being considered is not only bad for our state's online economy, it is also far from an effective plan to combat piracy of copyrighted materials. Not only that, but I also understand that it will harm many online institutions that keep me connected to family and friends- Facebook for one.
I urge you to represent our state's interests and vote against this ill-considered and unconstitutional piece of proposed legislation. We need to be smart about the problem of intellectual property rights, not simply take a hammer to the internet.
With Respect,
___________
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Personally, I'm rather interested in being able to continue writing and sharing fanworks. It only takes a few moments to follow the steps after the link above and have your opinion sent off to the big wigs. Sheer volume of response is what counts here (though if you happen to know any of these politicians personally, then by all means lobby the crap out of them!)
The link above ("How You Can Stop SOPA") has great tips about where you can get involved and where you can spread the word.
Other helpful links:
SOPA is not being advertised EXCEPT on the internet! News stations covered the topic a grand total of once!
More about the effect SOPA will have on fanfiction and LiveJournal can be found here.
The easiest way to get involved! Found here! This takes less than a minute to complete and send off.
Many thanks to brighteyed_jill, nrrrdy_girl and game_byrd!