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2 <html lang="en">
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3 <head>
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4 <title>SurfGuitar101.com is offline to protest SOPA / PIPA</title>
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5 <meta charset="utf-8" />
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7 <link rel="stylesheet" href="http://twitter.github.com/bootstrap/1.4.0/bootstrap.min.css" />
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8 </head>
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9 <body>
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10 <div class="container">
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11 <h1>SurfGuitar101.com Offline to Protest SOPA / PIPA</h1>
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12 <p>Dear Friends of SurfGuitar101.com:</p>
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13 <p>
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14 I am joining many other websites today and closing the site to protest two pieces of legislation in the US Congress: the so-called
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15 <em>Stop Online Piracy Act</em>, or <em>SOPA</em> in the House, and the so-called
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16 <em>Protect IP Act</em>, or <em>PIPA</em> in the Senate. I hope to draw your attention to these acts and
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17 urge each one of you to read up on them. Then, please contact your representatives and ask them to withdraw
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18 their support for these bills.
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19 </p>
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20 <p>I too am concerned about protecting copyrights and intellectual property. But these bills have provisions in them
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21 that go too far. They allow media companies to ask the government to remove sites from the Internet without any
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22 due process or oversight. The burden of proving that no coypright violations are present will fall on site operators.
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23 Major tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter oppose these bills. The engineers that built the internet have
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24 also spoken out, pointing out that the provisions in these bills will not prevent piracy, but in fact will create
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25 security problems and disrupt the operation of the Internet.
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26 </p>
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27 <p>
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28 The Internet is quite possibly the greatest invention of my lifetime. It should be a tool for free expression,
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29 democracy, innovation, and entrepreneurship. However, the media companies are failing to innovate and embrace
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30 this new digital age, and instead are asking the US government to essentially let them decide what we can and cannot
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31 view on the internet. We cannot let the US goverment
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32 join the ranks of despot countries like China, Iran, Syria, and North Korea and censor their citizens' use of the Internet.
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33 </p>
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34 <p>Here are some links that I ask you to look over. They explain the issues far better than I can.</p>
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35 <ul>
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36 <li><a href="http://americancensorship.org/infographic.html">SOPA at a glance</a>, a nice infographic from <a href="http://americancensorship.org">americancensorship.org</a></li>
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37 <li><a href="http://news.cnet.com/8301-31921_3-57329001-281/how-sopa-would-affect-you-faq/?tag=mncol;txt">How SOPA Would Affect You: FAQ</a> - from CNET</li>
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38 <li><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/opinion/firewall-law-could-infringe-on-free-speech.html?_r=3">Stop the
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39 Great Firewall of America</a> - New York Times editorial</li>
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40 <li><a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/12/internet-inventors-warn-against-sopa-and-pipa">An Open Letter From Internet Engineers to the U.S. Congress</a></li>
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41 <li><a href="http://gigaom.com/2012/01/13/tim-oreilly-why-im-fighting-sopa/">Tim O’Reilly: Why I’m fighting SOPA</a></li>
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42 <li><a
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43 href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/01/sopa-is-a-symbol-of-the-movie-industrys-failure-to-innovate/250967/">SOPA
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44 Is a Symbol of the Movie Industry's Failure to Innovate</a> - from entreprenuer Steve Blank</li>
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45 <li><a href="http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/right-turn/post/overkill-on-internet-piracy/2011/12/11/gIQA9TK6nO_blog.html">Overkill on Internet Piracy</a> - from The Washington Post</li>
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46 <li><a href="http://reason.com/blog/2011/11/08/new-anti-piracy-legislation-would-break">New Anti-Piracy Legislation Would Break the Internet Without Stopping Piracy</a> - from Reason magazine</li>
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47 <li><a href="http://americancensorship.org">AmericanCensorship.org</a> - information and resources</li>
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48 <li><a href="http://projects.propublica.org/sopa/">SOPA Opera</a> - Where do your members of congress stand on SOPA
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49 and PIPA?</li>
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50 <li><a href="https://wfc2.wiredforchange.com/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8173">Stop the Internet Blacklist
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51 Legislation</a> - The Electronic Freedom Foundation provides this page to easily let you send an email to your
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52 representatives. Just enter your zip code.</li>
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53 <li><a href="http://www.tumblr.com/protect-the-net">Protect the Net</a> - popular blogging site Tumblr.com's
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54 information and resources for contacting your representatives</li>
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55 <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act">SOPA Entry on Wikipedia</a></li>
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56 <li><a href="http://www.cdt.org/report/growing-chorus-opposition-stop-online-piracy-act">Growing Chorus of Opposition
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57 to "Stop Online Piracy Act"</a> - from the Center for Democracy and Technology</li>
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58 <li><a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/10/sopa-hollywood-finally-gets-chance-break-internet">SOPA: Hollywood
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59 Finally Gets A Chance to Break the Internet</a> - from the Electronic Freedom Foundation</li>
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60 <li><a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/12/fight-blacklist-toolkit-anti-sopa-activists">Fight the Blacklist:
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61 A Toolkit for Anti-SOPA Activism</a> - from the Electronic Freedom Foundation</li>
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62 <li><a href="http://www.opencongress.org/">OpenCongress.org</a> - News about SOPA & PIPA as well as resources for
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63 contacting your representatives</li>
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64 </ul>
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65 <p>
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66 Thank you for your patience and understanding. I firmly believe that even small community websites like ours
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67 would be threatened if bills like this were allowed to pass.<br />
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68 <em>-- Brian Neal</em>
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69 </p>
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70 <p>
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71 <a href="https://wfc2.wiredforchange.com/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8173" class="btn large danger">Contact your representatives now</a>
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72 </p>
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73
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74 </div>
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75 </body>
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76 </html>
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