Please call, email, snail mail and fax your US Representative and your two US Senators…Tell them:

As your constituent, please oppose SOPA and PIPA. It will kill the Internet!

Why?

SOPA and PIPA would put the burden on website owners to police user-contributed material and call for the unnecessary blocking of entire sites. Small sites won’t have sufficient resources to defend themselves. Big media companies may seek to cut off funding sources for their foreign competitors, even if copyright isn’t being infringed. Foreign sites will be blacklisted, which means they won’t show up in major search engines. SOPA and PIPA would build a framework for future restrictions and suppression.

In a world in which politicians regulate the Internet based on the influence of big money, Wikipedia — and sites like it — cannot survive.

Congress says it’s trying to protect the rights of copyright owners, but the “cure” that SOPA and PIPA represent is worse than the disease. SOPA and PIPA are not the answer: they would fatally damage the free and open Internet.

____________________________________________________

For information on how to contact your U.S. Representative and two U.S. Senators, go to: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wiki

or

Listing of members’ home pages, email addresses, telephone numbers and addresses. Searchable by name, state or class.
http://www.senate.gov

and/or

Find Your U.S. Representative
http://www.house.gov

____________________________________________________

Watchwoman: I copied the above from Wikipedia’s web site today < www.wikipedia.org >  . They are indeed gone dark!

Below is a letter I copied from Conservative Action Alerts. < http://www.conservativeactionalerts.com/ >

You can Fax FREE from your own computer using these FREE web sites!
FAX FREE FROM YOUR COMPUTER – No LD charges either. Click – http://faxzero.com/  or http://www.gotfreefax.com/ or http://www.myfax.com/free/ 

▬ Donna Calvin

____________________________________________________

[Sen./Rep.] [FIRST NAME] [LAST NAME]
Washington, DC

Dear [Sen./Rep.] [LAST NAME]:

I am strongly opposed to HR 3261, also known as, “Enforcing and Protecting American Rights Against Sites Intent on Theft and Exploitation Act of 2011,” the “E-PARASITE Act,” and the “Stopping Online Piracy Act.”

I am strongly opposed to similar legislation in the Senate, S.968, known as “Protect IP.”

This legislation will kill innovation, reduce job growth, restrict truth in America, deny justice, and give the government unprecedented censorship power over its citizens.

I do not support this assault on our First and Fourth Amendments, and you must oppose any form of this legislation. The government should NOT have the power to shut down any website, at any time, for any reason. It simply is not Constitutional.

Of course we need measures in place to stop online piracy, but this bill is like taking a missile to a knife fight – it is reactionary and overreaching and it will stifle freedom, business and creativity in America…not something we need to do at a time of such economic uncertainty.

Rep. Darrell Issa and Sen.Ron Wyden are working on an alternative proposal that will correct many things that are wrong with SOPA, and I urge you to consider their language.

I will be watching your vote on this matter.

Sincerely,

[YOUR NAME]
[ADDRESS]
[CITY], [STATE] [ZIP]

____________________________________________________

Watchwoman Related Posts:

Hands Off the Internet Goes Viral
http://blog.beliefnet.com/watchwomanonthewall/?p=11764

Wikipedia & Mozilla among others are dark today to oppose SOPA and PIPA
http://blog.beliefnet.com/watchwomanonthewall/?p=11738

WIKIPEDIA COULD SOON GO DARK IN PROTEST OF HOUSE INTERNET BILL
http://blog.beliefnet.com/watchwomanonthewall/?p=10489

U. S. Congress considers bill to censor Internet
http://blog.beliefnet.com/watchwomanonthewall/?p=10455

SOPA/PIPA is already here!
http://blog.beliefnet.com/watchwomanonthewall/?p=11849

____________________________________________________