Just one more reason I love Oregon
Hey guys, I'm sure you've all heard about SOPA by now. (If you haven't, read about it .)
From the Washington Post:
"Imagine a country where the government is able to shut down Web sites at the slightest provocation, where elected representatives invoke fears of "overseas pirates" to defend the interests of domestic industries, and where Internet companies like Google must cave in to the demands of government censors or risk being shut down.
No, we are not talking about China, North Korea or Iran - we are talking about the United States, where legislators in both the House and Senate are attempting to push through new anti-piracy legislation by year-end that would benefit Hollywood at the expense of Silicon Valley."
And from Wikipedia:
"The bill would authorize the U.S. Department of Justice to seek court orders against websites outside U.S. jurisdiction accused of infringing on copyrights, or of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement.[4] After delivering a court order, the U.S. Attorney-General (AG) could require US-directed Internet service providers, ad networks such as Google and payment processors such as Paypal or Visa to suspend doing business with sites found to infringe on federal criminal intellectual property laws and take "technically feasible and reasonable measures" to prevent access to the infringing site. The AG could also bar search engines from displaying links to the sites.[12]
The bill also establishes a two-step process for intellectual property rights holders to seek relief if they have been harmed by a site dedicated to infringement. The rights holder must first notify, in writing, related payment facilitators and ad networks of the identity of the website, who, in turn, must then forward that notification and suspend services to that identified website, unless that site provides a counter notification explaining how it is not in violation. The rights holder is then authorized to commence legal action for court-ordered limited injunctive relief against the site operator, if such a counter notification is provided, or if the payment or advertising services fail to suspend service in the absence of a counter notification.[12]
The bill provides immunity from liability to the ad and payment networks that comply with this Act or that take voluntary action to cut ties to such sites. Any copyright holder who knowingly misrepresents that a website is dedicated to infringement would be liable for damages.[4]
The second section increases the penalties for streaming video and for selling counterfeit drugs, military materials or consumer goods. The bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyprotected content a felony.[12]"
Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has an epic plan to stop it. In signing this petition, not only are you saying you want it stopped, but Wyden will read off every name on this list in one of the greatest filibusters ever, should SOPA come up to a vote. So if you have, like, five seconds (I know you do, if you're reading this!) go sign your name on the link above. If you have slightly more than five seconds, please edit the text in the blue box to come up with your own unique statement as to why you want SOPA blocked. This is important as in government petitions, names that post the same exact copypasta statement are all counted as a single comment, while unique comments are counted separately. While posting with the copypasta will get your name on the filibuster, including a unique statement will do even more good than that.
From the Washington Post:
"Imagine a country where the government is able to shut down Web sites at the slightest provocation, where elected representatives invoke fears of "overseas pirates" to defend the interests of domestic industries, and where Internet companies like Google must cave in to the demands of government censors or risk being shut down.
No, we are not talking about China, North Korea or Iran - we are talking about the United States, where legislators in both the House and Senate are attempting to push through new anti-piracy legislation by year-end that would benefit Hollywood at the expense of Silicon Valley."
And from Wikipedia:
"The bill would authorize the U.S. Department of Justice to seek court orders against websites outside U.S. jurisdiction accused of infringing on copyrights, or of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement.[4] After delivering a court order, the U.S. Attorney-General (AG) could require US-directed Internet service providers, ad networks such as Google and payment processors such as Paypal or Visa to suspend doing business with sites found to infringe on federal criminal intellectual property laws and take "technically feasible and reasonable measures" to prevent access to the infringing site. The AG could also bar search engines from displaying links to the sites.[12]
The bill also establishes a two-step process for intellectual property rights holders to seek relief if they have been harmed by a site dedicated to infringement. The rights holder must first notify, in writing, related payment facilitators and ad networks of the identity of the website, who, in turn, must then forward that notification and suspend services to that identified website, unless that site provides a counter notification explaining how it is not in violation. The rights holder is then authorized to commence legal action for court-ordered limited injunctive relief against the site operator, if such a counter notification is provided, or if the payment or advertising services fail to suspend service in the absence of a counter notification.[12]
The bill provides immunity from liability to the ad and payment networks that comply with this Act or that take voluntary action to cut ties to such sites. Any copyright holder who knowingly misrepresents that a website is dedicated to infringement would be liable for damages.[4]
The second section increases the penalties for streaming video and for selling counterfeit drugs, military materials or consumer goods. The bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyprotected content a felony.[12]"
Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) has an epic plan to stop it. In signing this petition, not only are you saying you want it stopped, but Wyden will read off every name on this list in one of the greatest filibusters ever, should SOPA come up to a vote. So if you have, like, five seconds (I know you do, if you're reading this!) go sign your name on the link above. If you have slightly more than five seconds, please edit the text in the blue box to come up with your own unique statement as to why you want SOPA blocked. This is important as in government petitions, names that post the same exact copypasta statement are all counted as a single comment, while unique comments are counted separately. While posting with the copypasta will get your name on the filibuster, including a unique statement will do even more good than that.