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<h1>SurfGuitar101.com Offline to Protest SOPA / PIPA</h1>
<p>Dear Friends of SurfGuitar101.com:</p>
<p>
I am closing the site today to protest two pieces of legislation in the US Congress: the so-called
<em>Stop Online Piracy Act</em>, or <em>SOPA</em> in the House, and the so-called
<em>Protect IP Act</em>, or <em>PIPA</em> in the Senate. I hope to draw attention to these acts and
urge each one of you to read up on them. Then, please contact your representatives and ask them to withdraw
their support for these bills.
</p>
<p>I too am concerned about protecting copyrights and intellectual property. But these bills have provisions in them
that go too far. They allow media companies to ask the government to remove sites from the Internet without any
due process or oversight. The burden of proving that no coypright violations are present will fall on site operators.
Major tech companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter oppose these bills. The engineers that built the internet have
also spoken out, pointing out that the provisions in these bills will not prevent piracy, but in fact will create
security problems and disrupt the operation of the Internet.
</p>
<p>
The Internet is quite possibly the greatest invention of my lifetime. It should be a tool for free expression,
democracy, innovation, and entrepreneurship. Instead, the media companies are failing to innovate  or embrace
this new digital age, and they are asking the US government to essentially bail them out. We cannot let the US goverment
join the ranks of despot countries like China, Iran, Syria, and North Korea and censor their citizens' use of the Internet.
</p>
<p>Here are some links that I ask you to look over. They explain the issues far better than I can.</p>
<ul>
   <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>
   <li><a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/16/opinion/firewall-law-could-infringe-on-free-speech.html?_r=3">Stop the
      Great Firewall of America</a> - New York Times editorial</li>
   <li><a
      href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/01/sopa-is-a-symbol-of-the-movie-industrys-failure-to-innovate/250967/">SOPA
      Is a Symbol of the Movie Industry's Failure to Innovate</a> - from entreprenuer Steve Blank</li>
   <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>
   <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>
   <li><a href="http://americancensorship.org">AmericanCensorship.org</a> - information and resources</li>
   <li><a href="http://projects.propublica.org/sopa/">SOPA Opera</a> - Where do your members of congress stand on SOPA
   and PIPA?</li>
   <li><a href="https://wfc2.wiredforchange.com/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8173">Stop the Internet Blacklist
      Legislation</a> - The Electronic Freedom Foundation provides this page to easily let you send an email to your
   representatives. Just enter your zip code.</li>
   <li><a href="http://www.tumblr.com/protect-the-net">Protect the Net</a> - popular blogging site Tumblr.com's
   information and resources for contacting your representatives</li>
   <li><a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act">SOPA Entry on Wikipedia</a></li>
   <li><a href="http://www.cdt.org/report/growing-chorus-opposition-stop-online-piracy-act">Growing Chorus of Opposition
      to "Stop Online Piracy Act"</a> - from the Center for Democracy and Technology</li>
   <li><a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/10/sopa-hollywood-finally-gets-chance-break-internet">SOPA: Hollywood
      Finally Gets A Chance to Break the Internet</a> - from the Electronic Freedom Foundation</li>
   <li><a href="https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/12/fight-blacklist-toolkit-anti-sopa-activists">Fight the Blacklist:
      A Toolkit for Anti-SOPA Activism</a> - from the Electronic Freedom Foundation</li>
   <li><a href="http://www.opencongress.org/">OpenCongress.org</a> - News about SOPA &amp; PIPA as well as resources for
   contacting your representatives</li>
</ul>
<p>
Thank you for your patience and understanding. I firmly believe that even small community websites like ours
would be threatened if bills like this were allowed to pass.<br />
<em>-- Brian Neal</em>
</p>
<p>
<a href="https://wfc2.wiredforchange.com/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8173" class="btn large danger">Contact your representatives now</a>
</p>

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author	Brian Neal <bgneal@gmail.com>
date	Sat, 14 Jan 2012 14:59:51 -0600
parents
children	9beda24d558c