The next steps to fighting PIPA and SOPA: Show them that they can't stop the signal

[box-in-the-box.livejournal.com]

Just last week, there were only five U.S. Senators publicly opposing the Protect IP Act.

In the wake of the widespread Internet blackout day on Wednesday, Jan. 18, there are now 36.

It would take only 41 "no" votes to permanently stall PIPA and the Stop Online Piracy Act in the Senate.

But we can't get complacent, because the multinational media corporations that are throwing their weight behind PIPA and SOPA will not stop pushing for these bills to pass, and the Senate is expected to vote on PIPA on Tuesday, Jan. 24.

Members of Congress know PIPA and SOPA are unpopular, but they don't necessarily understand why, so they could be duped by superficial changes to those bills, which the forces behind PIPA and SOPA are sure to make to gain the votes to pass those bills.

Here's what you can do, in the real world, to fight back against the forces that would end the freedom of the Internet:

1. Call your Senators' offices every day, from now through the day of the PIPA vote on Tuesday, Jan. 24, until you know they'll vote "no" on cloture. If your site participated in the Internet blackout day, consider running a "Call the Senate" link during those days as well.

2. Visit your Senators' district offices (use Google or your local phonebook to find the addresses) to tell them that you oppose PIPA and urge them to vote "no" on cloture. Stopping by to talk to them in person makes the online protests more tangible and credible to them.

You can check the Protect IP Act Senate whip count for continuous updates on everyone in the Senate who supports or opposes PIPA, as well as those who are still undeclared or have yet to be contacted. Phone numbers are listed for all the Senators' district and D.C. offices, next to direct links to their Congressional email addresses, along with tips on how to talk and write to them persuasively.

NEVER FORGET FOR WHAT YOU FIGHT:

Comments

[stewstewstewdio.livejournal.com]

But we can't get complacent, because the multinational media corporations that are throwing their weight behind PIPA and SOPA will not stop pushing for these bills to pass, and the Senate is expected to vote on PIPA on Tuesday, Jan. 24.

Your “free market” at work. Now they are using the same propaganda and manipulation that everyone claims the government uses to get their own way.

Oh, BTW. Wikipedia is up and running again at 2:00 AM American CST. 24 hours my ass. This snit protest wasn’t even a blip on the radar. The world screamed with one voice: “WTF. Who cares?”

[box-in-the-box.livejournal.com]

Wikipedia is up and running again at 2:00 AM American CST. 24 hours my ass.

They went black well before midnight on Wednesday, Jan. 18, Pacific Standard Time. Your ass regardless, I would indeed call that 24 hours.

This snit protest wasn't even a blip on the radar. The world screamed with one voice: "WTF. Who cares?"

I would suggest that you Google some news articles on the subject. The number that I have read indicated that quite a lot of people DID care.

[op-tech-glitch.livejournal.com]

And the first thing I fuckin' saw when I went back over there is that Jimmy Castor (best known for the 70s funk classic "Troglodyte/Cave Men") died.

DAMN.

[stewstewstewdio.livejournal.com]

I would suggest that you Google some news articles on the subject. The number that I have read indicated that quite a lot of people DID care.

I can Google articles on Justin Bieber. That doesn’t make him something of a world event. I’m talking about headline making significance.

[box-in-the-box.livejournal.com]

I can Google articles on Justin Bieber. That doesn't make him something of a world event. I'm talking about headline making significance.

This DID make headlines, around the WORLD, as you would know if you even bothered to do a Google search. You're basically saying, "It's not news unless it makes headlines around the world, but I'm still going to discount all the news stories around the world where it DID make headlines, because Justin Bieber also appears in articles that I can Google."

[htpcl.livejournal.com]

This (http://pics.livejournal.com/htpcl/pic/000z26we) is the front page of the biggest online newspaper here.

[stewstewstewdio.livejournal.com]

This DID make headlines, around the WORLD, as you would know if you even bothered to do a Google search.

Actually, I did a Yahoo! Search because Google is a leading player in this propaganda and Google skews its results to fit its own needs.

You're basically saying, "It's not news unless it makes headlines around the world, but I'm still going to discount all the news stories around the world where it DID make headlines, because Justin Bieber also appears in articles that I can Google."

Nicely parroted, but yes. I would be interested in some examples of legitimate news sources where it did make headlines around the world. Al Jazeera? BBC? AP?

[telemann.livejournal.com]

I'm talking about headline making significance.

Well, how about the New York Times then?




Well you mentioned Mr. Bieber, but the Times doesn't have a story about him (fortunately I may add!)

[airiefairie.livejournal.com]

Morgunblaðið, biggest print and online media in Iceland:



I have not seen any Justin Bieber articles there for weeks, not even on the gossip page with the small print.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

What's interesting is that the protests got a lot of coverage, but didn't seem to accomplish much. Meanwhile, RedState.com noted that they'd push to primary any Republican who's still in support, and suddenly sponsorships are dropping left and right.

Protest means little. Action is everything.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

Protest isn't action. It's nearly the opposite of action - it does nothing to go after the power structures, it provides no real danger to the power structure, and influences few outside those involved/sympathetic to the protest.

Meanwhile, conservative groups went after conservatives supporting anti-conservative legislation, and got results. Strange, that...

[enders-shadow.livejournal.com]

Define protest.
Define action.

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

Protest = things like the SOPA/PIPA blackouts, OWS.

Action = actually working toward policy/activity goals in order to change things.

[enders-shadow.livejournal.com]

Try again.
And this time define protest, instead of just naming protests you dislike.
Define what protest is then maybe we can chat.

[box-in-the-box.livejournal.com]

At the risk of sounding like a Mitt Romney (or John Kerry, if you prefer) bet-hedger, I think you're both correct and incorrect here.

If it was simply a whole bunch of sites going black, then I would agree, that would accomplish not nearly as much, but what several of those sites also did (and what several other sites that didn't fully black out also did, including at least one ... *ahem* adult site, in my list of bookmarks that I check daily) was to couple their statements of objection to PIPA and SOPA with links that site visitors could use to contact their own members of Congress in a single step.

In this instance, sites ranging from Wikipedia to Hentai Foundry wedded protest with action.

That being said, I was wondering why so many more Republicans than Democrats had switched sides on this thing, and speaking as someone who's obviously pretty partisan, it both gave me a new respect for those Republicans and made me disgusted with some longtime Democrats.

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

[badlydrawnjeff.livejournal.com]

111 = 165?

[box-in-the-box.livejournal.com]

Bear in mind that there were quite a few (and there still remain a handful of) officially "undeclared" members of Congress on this matter.

[kylinrouge.livejournal.com]

It doesn't count 'undeclareds'. This means that quite a few undeclareds picked a side.

[devil-ad-vocate.livejournal.com]

Wow. That video made me want to go out and kick Mickey Mouse's ass!

[box-in-the-box.livejournal.com]

I chose that video precisely because it's a great tongue-in-cheek cobbled-together motivational speech AND it's a minor but fun example of exactly what we could lose if these bills are passed.

Fozzie's "SHAAAME ON YOU!" always does me in. :)