The Shocking Facts About The Government's Move To Censor The Internet

[Playinghardball]

The Senate is considering holding a vote on an internet censorship bill (PIPA) next Tuesday, January 24. Help us stop them from voting the wrong way! Please share this infographic now to educate people on the dangers of PIPA and SOPA.


Source: MoveOn.org

[JDPriestly]

1. The worst of it is that, let's say, Republican operatives

post illegal material on DU -- and our site gets shut down.

This bill would have draconian effects. It would start a sort of competition between different interest groups to try to see which one could successfully shut down the other side's sites.

This is no good.

The violation of intellectual property rights is a problem, but this kind of law is not the solution.

[Initech]

2. Wouldn't SOPA be a huge 1st amendment violation?

[Auggie]

7. Not unless it meant to censor something deemed "illegal," I would think

[mwooldri]

18. IMO Sopa as it is written is a 1st amendment violation.

SOPA and PIPA are worded that if we applied it in an off-line setting, it'd be like the government telling companies that produce telephone directories (yellow pages etc) not to list a specific number because company xyz says that the entity that has that phone number has been violating their copyright.

[spin]

3. The internet scares the crap out of the 1%...

So obviously it has to be controlled.

[sarcasmo]

5. Bingo, and is it no surprise that after the uprisings in the middle east

and the occupy movement, the elites want to block the Internet.

[spin]

11. Exactly! (n/t)

[thelordofhell]

17. Twitter had more to do with it

The internet has been around for about two decades

[annabanana]

4. Where can I get a list of the Dem sponsors?

They REALLY ought to hear from us.

[just1voice]

6. Right here

http://projects.propublica.org/sopa/

[Agony]

9. I can tell you that Gillibrand is a co-sponsor...

because she sent this reply to a letter about PIPA.

"Thank you for writing to me regarding S. 968, the PROTECT IP Act of 2011. I understand your concerns.

I am a cosponsor of this legislation because I believe that we must protect American intellectual property against foreign websites that infringe upon our rights. By empowering the Attorney General of the United States to go after foreign infringing websites, this legislation becomes a necessary tool to ensure that U.S. companies remain competitive in the world marketplace. I recognize that there are technical concerns with the enforcement of this bill that need to be addressed. I am committed to working with my colleagues in the United States Senate to ensure that this legislation protects the Constitutional rights of Americans and does not stifle lawful free speech or innovation on the internet."

Nice huh! It is called Corruption and I don't think that she does understand.

I like Senator Gillibrand, generally she seems like a breath of fresh air, but this makes enthusiastic support very difficult...

[Auggie]

8. Al Franken supports this?

[starroute]

10. Some of this is already happening at Facebook

A few months back, I tried to post a link to some document Anonymous had uploaded at Pirate Bay. It wasn't anything involving copyright infringement -- just the usual boasts about their latest coup. But Facebook would not allow my post to go through with the Pirate Bay link. I even tried an URL shortener and it wouldn't allow that version either.

So the blocking software is already in place. We just have to hope it doesn't become mandatory.

[IDemo]

12. The DNS blocking portion of the bill has been removed

And the White House said no-go on the bill earlier anyway.

http://www.neowin.net/news/dns-blocking-to-be-removed-from-sopa

[BrendaBrick]

15. +1

But http://americancensorship.org/?rc=momediaattribution is still supporting a strike 1-18-2011.

[hunter]

13. Great Poster.

Recommended!

[BrendaBrick]

14. K&R

Thanks for posting this.

I hope you don't mind, but I'm going to post a new thread RE: Americancensorship.org and the website strike effective tomorrow:

http://americancensorship.org/?rc=momediaattribution

[Kablooie]

16. This is great! Anyone can shut down any website by uploading illegal material. Cool!

It puts the control of the internet into the hands of the people! Yeah!
Bye bye Facebook! Bye bye Free Republic! Bye Bye Democratic Underground!

[airplaneman]

19. SOPA and PROTECT IP are also about shutting down international pharmacies

http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111115/15345616781/sopa-will-have-grave-effects-health-hundreds-thousands-americans.shtml

-Airplane