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How to ACTUALLY take action to stop SOPA/PIPA.
I am not participating in the "internet blackout" to protest SOPA today because, Jesus tapdancing skateboarding Christ on a cracker, of all the ineffective protests ever conceived in the history of armchair internet activism, this has got to be the least effective of all. (ETA: I mean ineffective in the sense that the I'm not going to post to Tumblr or Facebook today because I'M PROTESTING! "blackout" is ineffective. The major websites like Wikipedia turning black and redirecting visitors to information that helps them contact their legislators? WAY more effective! But most of Tumblr and most of my Facebook contacts seem to have interpreted "blackout" to mean let's not use the internet today, which, uh, NO. Not an effective protest!)
I do, however, count myself among those who realize that SOPA is a horrifically dangerous and poorly-written law, and it SHOULD be killed with fire. Why?
This article by Chris Heald explains exactly why SOPA is a bad law, breaking down the actual text of the proposed law point-by-point and explaining how that would impact internet usage in the real world. Meanwhile, PIPA, the evil twin of SOPA created by the Senate, is so poorly-written that six of the Senators who originally sponsored the bill have asked majority leader Harry Reid to CANCEL the upcoming January 24th vote, due to concerns that the bill as it currently stands is, well, a poorly-written and dangerous mess.
What can you do if you ACTUALLY want to take action to stop SOPA/PIPA?
Contact your Representative and Senator. By phone, as that's the best and most direct way to persuade them.
The Reddit article linked above gives a pretty good idea of what you need to do and how to go about doing it, but just to repeat some key points:
1. Read up on SOPA/PIPA before you make your phone call. Have a couple of talking points ready.
2. Be calm and be polite. You are going to be more persuasive if you sound like an informed citizen than an angry internet nerd.
3. You are probably going to be talking to an aide instead of your actual Representative/Senator. That's okay. It's the aide's job to take phone calls like this and relay voters' opinions to their bosses. Your call won't be ignored. Trust me.
4. Don't be surprised if the person that you talk to has never heard of SOPA/PIPA or has no idea what the heck any of this is about. That's exactly why these phone calls are so important!
I called my Rep last night, talked to an aide, and it went pretty well. From my time in AmeriCorps I can definitely say that direct phone-call-to-lawmakers action is always the best way to seriously get shit done.
Please please please take a moment to make a phone call. It shouldn't take more than three to five minutes of your day. Your internet will thank you later.
I do, however, count myself among those who realize that SOPA is a horrifically dangerous and poorly-written law, and it SHOULD be killed with fire. Why?
This article by Chris Heald explains exactly why SOPA is a bad law, breaking down the actual text of the proposed law point-by-point and explaining how that would impact internet usage in the real world. Meanwhile, PIPA, the evil twin of SOPA created by the Senate, is so poorly-written that six of the Senators who originally sponsored the bill have asked majority leader Harry Reid to CANCEL the upcoming January 24th vote, due to concerns that the bill as it currently stands is, well, a poorly-written and dangerous mess.
What can you do if you ACTUALLY want to take action to stop SOPA/PIPA?
Contact your Representative and Senator. By phone, as that's the best and most direct way to persuade them.
The Reddit article linked above gives a pretty good idea of what you need to do and how to go about doing it, but just to repeat some key points:
1. Read up on SOPA/PIPA before you make your phone call. Have a couple of talking points ready.
2. Be calm and be polite. You are going to be more persuasive if you sound like an informed citizen than an angry internet nerd.
3. You are probably going to be talking to an aide instead of your actual Representative/Senator. That's okay. It's the aide's job to take phone calls like this and relay voters' opinions to their bosses. Your call won't be ignored. Trust me.
4. Don't be surprised if the person that you talk to has never heard of SOPA/PIPA or has no idea what the heck any of this is about. That's exactly why these phone calls are so important!
I called my Rep last night, talked to an aide, and it went pretty well. From my time in AmeriCorps I can definitely say that direct phone-call-to-lawmakers action is always the best way to seriously get shit done.
Please please please take a moment to make a phone call. It shouldn't take more than three to five minutes of your day. Your internet will thank you later.
no subject
In case you havent read this yet:
http://gizmodo.com/5876984/the-mpaa-says-blackout-protests-are-an-abuse-of-power
Dying from the hypocrisy.
That and wikipedia is blacked out for ONE DAY and look at the reaction:
http://gawker.com/5877192/stupid-high-school-kids-and-teachers-freak-out-over-wikipedia-blackout
And the bill hasnt even passed yet.
no subject
Stuff like this makes me wish we could just have Hollywood go out of business. This is a big reason why I haven't gone to a movie in 5 years.
no subject