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Because you "still" can.

I don't get people who are petitioning Congress. They already know how unjust SOPA is - so what's the point?

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I will try to read and interpret more correctly on what is being conveyed to further my understanding before making what could be a regretable decision.

Heights - not to be rude, but I feel like a certain degree of assertiveness is due in this regard. You are completely missing the point and the goal of PIPA/SOPA. It does not purport, as you may think it does, to protect our children or our finances (although I, like Scottacus, do not believe that the internet is an inherently evil place - people need to monitor what their children take in, and be responsible for their own naive behavior if they are scammed).

It will, however, if passed, affect many individuals' livelihoods, especially internet pioneers and entrepreneurs (some of whom go on to do great things for the community, as recently seen by Mark Zuckerberg's charitable contribution to Newark). You see, PIPA/SOPA is an incredibly overbroad bill which seeks to effectively use a "cannon to kill a fly" - it allows the government (through ISPs) to shut down websites which simply link to pirated or copyright infringed videos. This is nonsense, as it will inherently limit social media websites (like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, or even JC List) and hold these websites accountable for any copyrighted material posted by users. Largely because the entertainment industry wants more money for something they didn't do (I am referring to the fact that a lot of producers and talent agents get a large cut of the profit for just having connections and being able to front large sums of money - nothing more).

Anyway, to cut to the chase of thise long winded post, please HEIGHTS (and everyone else on this website), make sure you do your research before you post what you think to be a well-informed post. And more importantly, do your research before you VOTE.

Interesting list of supporters. I get the artist unions and music and film industries, but Americans for Tax Reform and Concerned Women for America?



List of Supporters: H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act
60 Plus Association
ABC
Actors? Equity Association (AEA)
Alliance for Safe Online Pharmacies (ASOP)
American Bankers Association (ABA)
American Federation of Labor and Congress of Industrial Organizations (AFL-CIO)
American Federation of Musicians (AFM)
American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (AFTRA)
American Guild of Musical Artists (AGMA)
American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP)
Americans for Tax Reform
Association of American Publishers (AAP)
Association of State Criminal Investigative Agencies
Beachbody, LLC
BMG Chrysalis
BMI
Building and Construction Trades Department
Capitol Records Nashville
CBS
Cengage Learning
Center for Individual Freedom (CFIF)
Christian Music Trade Association
Church Music Publishers? Association
Coalition Against Online Video Piracy (CAOVP)
Comcast/NBCUniversal
Concerned Women for America (CWA)
Congressional Fire Services Institute
Copyhype
Copyright Alliance
Coty, Inc.
Council of Better Business Bureaus (CBBB)
Council of State Governments
Country Music Association
Country Music Television
Creative America
Deluxe
Department for Professional Employees, AFL-CIO
Directors Guild of America (DGA)
Disney Publishing Worldwide, Inc.
Elsevier
EMI Christian Music Group
EMI Music Publishing
Entertainment Software Association (ESA)
ESPN
Est?e Lauder Companies
Gospel Music Association
Graphic Artists Guild
Hachette Book Group
HarperCollins Publishers Worldwide, Inc.
Hyperion
Independent Film & Television Alliance (IFTA)
International Alliance of Theatrical Stage Employees, Moving Picture Technicians, Artists and Allied Crafts of the United States, Its Territories and Canada (IATSE)
International AntiCounterfeiting Coalition (IACC)
International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF)
International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers (IBEW)
International Brotherhood of Teamsters (IBT)
International Trademark Association (INTA)
International Union of Police Associations
L?Oreal
Let Freedom Ring
Lost Highway Records
Macmillan
Major County Sheriffs
Major League Baseball
Majority City Chiefs
Marvel Entertainment, LLC
MasterCard Worldwide
MCA Records
McGraw-Hill Education
Mercury Nashville
Minor League Baseball (MiLB)
Minority Media & Telecom Council (MMTC)
Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA)
MPA ? The Association of Magazine Media
National Association of Fusion Center Directors
National Association of Manufacturers (NAM)
National Association of Prosecutor Coordinators
National Association of State Chief Information Officers
National Association of Theatre Owners (NATO)
National Cable & Telecommunications Association (NCTA)
National Center for Victims of Crime
National Criminal Justice Association
National District Attorneys Association
National Domestic Preparedness Coalition
National Football League
National Narcotics Officers? Associations? Coalition
National Sheriffs? Association (NSA)
National Songwriters Association
National Troopers Coalition
News Corporation
Office and Professional Employees International Union (OPEIU)
Pearson Education
Penguin Group (USA), Inc.
Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America (PhRMA)
Pfizer, Inc.
Provident Music Group
Random House
Republic Nashville
Revlon
Scholastic, Inc.
Screen Actors Guild (SAG)
Showdog Universal Music
Simon & Schuster
Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Sony Music Entertainment
Sony Music Nashville
State International Development Organization (SIDO)
The Perseus Books Groups
The United States Conference of Mayors
Tiffany & Co.
Time Warner
True Religion Brand Jeans
Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC)
UMG Publishing Group Nashville
United States Chamber of Commerce
United States Olympic Committee
United States Tennis Association
Universal Music
Universal Music Publishing Group
Viacom
Visa Inc.
W.W. Norton & Company
Wallace Bajjali Development Partners, L.P.
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Nashville
Wolters Kluewer Health
Word Entertainment
Zumba Fitness, LLC

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Wow. Everything about this statement is profoundly wrong.

SOPA will do nothing to protect children. It won't make the internet a less dangerous place (although it's not any more or less dangerous than any other aspect of life). It is purportedly designed to stop online piracy of music and movies, but as it is written it would allow any law enforcement organization to order websites to be blocked without any due process and for reasons far beyond its stated cause. It was clearly written by media lobbyists and promoted by politicians who have no idea how the internet works.

Further, your statement that the internet somehow needs censorship to be safe reflects your own fears and misunderstandings than any objective reality. How would censoring the internet protect children? There are already several laws that prohibit companies from collecting personal information from children. And it's parents' responsibilities to keep their children safe on the internet, just as it is in every other part of life.

Scams like phishing are already illegal, so how is censorship going to stop them? Wouldn't the government's efforts be better placed educating people about avoiding phishing scams?

The internet does not make people lose their life savings. Stupidity or gullibility does. There were scammers before the internet and there are scammers now.

If you are scared of the internet and wants to be protected from it, just don't go online. The rest of us don't need censorship to protect us.

This is the first time we have had free media speech, now that we are hooked on the net it will be more rigid in its use just like all the other mediums that are monitored out there. It probably should have been that way in the first place if it were we would be used to it by now. We have gone wild with this newfound freedom and because of this; I am in favor of this so-called censorship. The net has become a dangerous place, day in and day out we hear of children getting into trouble because of the net, people losing their life savings or lives due to its mal use. There are always special instructions on how to use the internet such as be careful. With underage children there are documentaries stating the evils that are in their path because of their unsupervised use. Perhaps we should buy them a disc as we did books and pull the plug. Look how jobs are limiting its use censoring certain websites based on types of interest. I can see why the government is making the information highway a police state it was only a matter of time.

I think Wikipedia is doing a great job. They have a splash screen that directs you to your representative, and allows you to cross-post to FB, Twitter, etc.

It directed me to Lautenberg, and I sent an email to his office.

I am firmly against piracy, but even firmer against censorship, which strikes at the heart of our freedom (or what we have left of it).

Even further proof that we are not free.

Google claims solidarity with 7000 websites preparing to black out

Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, many sites are blacking out.

Call your elected officials.

Tell them you are their constituent, and you oppose SOPA and PIPA.

Why?

SOPA and PIPA cripple the free and open internet. They put the onus on website owners to police user-contributed material and call for the blocking of entire sites, even if the links are not to infringing material. Small sites will not have the sufficient resources to mount a legal challenge. Without opposition, large media companies may seek to cut off funding sources for small competing foreign sites, even if big media are wrong. Foreign sites will be blacklisted, which means they won't show up in major search engines.

In a post SOPA/PIPA world, many useful informational sites-- cannot survive in a world where politicians regulate the Internet based on the influence of big money in Washington. It represents a framework for future restrictions and suppression. Congress says it's trying to protect the rights of copyright owners, but the "cure" that SOPA and PIPA represent is much more destructive than the disease they are trying to fix.

If you'd like to learn even more about SOPA/PIPA,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative/Learn_more


Your Representatives:

Rep. Albio Sires [D, NJ-13]
Phone: 202-225-7919
Fax: 202-226-0792
Twitter: Rep_Albio_Sires
https://forms.house.gov/sires/webforms/issue_subscribe.htm

Contact form
Sen. Frank Lautenberg [D, NJ]
Phone: 202-224-3224
Fax: 202-228-4054
http://www.lautenberg.senate.gov/contact/routing.cfm


Sen. Robert Men?ndez [D, NJ]
Phone: 202-224-4744
Fax: 202-228-2197
Twitter: senatormenendez
http://menendez.senate.gov/contact/