Stop SOPA and Protect-IP

This blog will be present first-time users with a warning page on January 18, 2012 -- the day that many internet sites are using to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) -- and January 23rd, 2012 -- the day before the U.S. Senate may vote on the PROTECT-IP act. DLTJ is proud to join many other sites in this demonstration of solidarity for an open, transparent internet.

Thought you heard that SOPA was dead? Or was modified to be acceptable? Or that PIPA is on the ropes? As of January 17th, these statements aren't true:

Representative Lamar Smith, House Judiciary Chair and sponsor of SOPA, issued a statement that said committee discussion of SOPA will continue in February.
Although proponents have said they will remove the DNS redirection provisions, there are still dangerous and unprecedented parts of the bills.
There are still more Senators in favor of PIPA (39) than not (16).

This legislation is bad for the health of the internet, bad for companies -- those that exist now and those that would otherwise come -- that make their living on the internet, and bad for the standing of the United States in the global community supporting freedom of speech and due process principles.

Looking for something to do to make your opinions known? Try one more more of these:

Use the Contact Congress form on the OpenCongress site to send an e-mail to your Senators or use the OpenCongress Find Your Senators and Representatives to look up their phone numbers. The Wikipedia SOPA Initiative page has some good phrasing of things to say based on your concerns. If outside the United States, use the Petition the U.S. State Department form on americancensorship.org.
Look into the #Rootstrikers movement. A big part of the disconnect and dysfunctional nature of public office holders is the role that campaign contributions play -- or, at best, have the appearance of influence -- in the public policy decision making. This certainly seems to be true for the current SOPA debate.
Watch the Learn to Be a Better Activist webcast on January 18th (or the recording after that day). It is a full day of talks from people who know something about making voices heard in Congress.
Add a banner to the bottom of your Twitter profile picture to spread the word of your opinions.
Read the Electronic Frontier Foundation's list of about a dozen other things you could do.

The text was modified to update a link from americancensorship.org/modal/state-dept-petition/index.html to http://americancensorship.org/modal/state-dept-petition/index.html on August 22nd, 2012.

The text was modified to remove a link to http://judiciary.house.gov/news/01172012.html on November 1st, 2012.

The text was modified to remove a link to http://www.blackoutsopa.org/ on January 8th, 2013.