When you visit http://fsf.org this Wednesday, November 16th, you won't see the usual site. Instead, you'll see a preview of what the site could look like in the future, if we were accused of copyright infringement by companies who routinely manipulate copyright law to attack free expression and sharing on the Internet -- values fundamental to the free software movement.
You've probably heard that Old Media is trying to push through legislation that would obligate the US government to blacklist and censor sites they accuse of copyright infringement. This legislation is called the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House and PROTECT IP in the Senate -- it is no surprise that groups pushing hard to take away the public's freedom picked an analogy to raping and pillaging for one bill and the manipulative terminology of "intellectual property" for the other.
We've stopped bills like this before, but we didn't do it by sitting on our hands.
If you have a web site, I urge you to join us and our colleagues at organizations like Fight for the Future, EFF, Public Knowledge, Demand Progress, and the Participatory Politics Foundation, as we blacklist ourselves for a day to make it abundantly clear what the Internet will look like if this legislation passes.
If you don't have a web site, you can still help! Take action by writing to your representatives in the House and Senate, and help spread the word to your friends and colleagues.
Participate in American Censorship Day:
http://americancensorship.org/
Spread the word:
On Reddit: http://www.reddit.co...lock_americans/
On your social networks (many are using the #blacklist tag): http://www.fsf.org/s...ernet Blacklist!
Learn more about the issue:
https://www.eff.org/...-break-Internet
http://arstechnica.c...es-it-worse.ars
http://www.gnu.org/p...hy/not-ipr.html
Thank you for doing your part,
John Sullivan
Executive Director
Free Software Foundation
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Does your livelihood depend on the internet and tech? Do you work on a popular website? Could you request an in-person meeting with your representative to stop this bill? We'll tell you all the ways you can help, please sign up now, we need all hands on deck this month.
