SOPA and PROTECT-IP are Congressional bills supported by large media companies that threaten to make sites with user contributed content (like the Davis Wiki) impossible.
Please take a moment to watch this video on the horrible PROTECT-IP act. If it passes — and it looks like it has a very good chance of passing — sites like DavisWiki may have to be shut down due to extraordinary legal costs.
Please sign this petition to help stop the bill.
These bills, it can be said without cynicism, were drafted by non-internet experts who were only concerned with clamping down on piracy of intellectual property like music, movies and other copyrighted material. The bills are dangerous because they weren't vetted so that they wouldn't tamper with the infrastructure of the world wide web, like the DNS-Domain Name System. Also very serious consequences could result from linking to copyrighted websites, which is an established norm for collaborative efforts such as the Davis Wiki.
The Davis Wiki joined online protests November 16, 2011 ("American Censorship Day") and on January 18, 2012.
More Information
- GovTrack: Senate Bill S. 968, House Bill H.R. 3261
- Updated Wikipedia article Protests against SOPA and PIPA covers the January 18 internet protests and afterward plus background and other information about the bills.
- Wikipedia article Wikimedia supports American Censorship Day dated November 15, 2011
- The Secret Behind SOPA Defense: Insist That It Doesn't Say What It Actually Says - from the sort-it-out-later dept
- A Look At The Testimony Given At Today's SOPA Lovefest Congressional Hearings... With A Surprise From MasterCard
- Another petition at a website titled American Internet Censorship is Real and Happening -- Stop it!
- California Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein are co-sponsors of PIPA.
- California First District Representative Mike Thompson has expressed his opposition to SOPA.
- How the "largest online protest in history" was built by Fight for the Future.
- SOPA and PIPA Fully Alive -- And a New Bill Joins Them — Activist Post
2011-11-17 20:20:38 Great(:c)! We're in a SOPApera. —BruceHansen
- Heh. I wish it were, alas, this is the real world, so we won't be able to discover that the entire season was a dream. -jw
2012-01-17 11:21:20 Has Davis Wiki discussed blacking out tomorrow in protest of SOPA? —justincox22
2012-01-17 15:38:08 Yes. The conversation to establish support is on Wiki Community/SOPA PIPA blackout proposal, and a couple proposed text are at Wiki Community/SOPA PIPA blackout text. —JabberWokky
2012-01-19 13:04:18 I participated in the blackout on the 18th. By reading Wikipedia's followup it can be seen that the protest had a big impact. But the battle isn't over yet. The sponsors of the legislation will probably modify it to make it palatable enough to pass a vote. Its fundamental flaws aren't being recognized or understood. After reading up on it some more, I would like to telephone my representatives and maybe others. I understand that talking to people is the most effective action.
Now that I've read some more about it, I'm greatly relieved that there's been quite a pushback for these bills, including the timeline toward adopting them. —BruceHansen
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