Hard Light Productions Forums

Off-Topic Discussion => General Discussion => Topic started by: achtung on November 16, 2011, 06:07:39 pm

Title: SOPA
Post by: achtung on November 16, 2011, 06:07:39 pm
I feel like I'm spamming or something, but I'll go ahead and post this. I doubt many people here agree with the measures being considered as part of SOPA.

http://americancensorship.org/

If you're in the U.S., please contact your representatives. I mean I'm sure they won't really give a ****, but it's better than nothing right?
Title: Re: SOPA
Post by: SypheDMar on November 16, 2011, 06:18:26 pm
Exactly.

Just for the record, the news of SOPA has hit Lifehacker, and Avaaz is having a petition against it too.

http://www.avaaz.org/en/save_the_internet_d/?wfkAaab

P.S. Avaaz wants us to bombard House majority Reid with polite phone calls to end the bill. Sounds reasonable.
Title: Re: SOPA
Post by: Sololop on November 16, 2011, 06:22:12 pm
For similar bills in Canada, and other internet-infringing ideas, I'm a member of openmedia.ca

I suggest everyone do the petitions. Over 500,000 people signed the one for openmedia recently, halting a UBB bill from passing. No, it's not the same, but it shows the power of many voices.
Title: Re: SOPA
Post by: jr2 on November 16, 2011, 06:29:25 pm
Yeah I did the one here:

https://wfc2.wiredforchange.com/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=8173&
Title: Re: SOPA
Post by: jg18 on November 16, 2011, 07:04:34 pm
If you're in the U.S., please contact your representatives. I mean I'm sure they won't really give a ****, but it's better than nothing right?
Done, for what it's worth. I used the link from jr2, which you can also reach from the EFF website (https://www.eff.org/).
Title: Re: SOPA
Post by: sigtau on November 19, 2011, 09:57:48 am
Just found out that my state's senator (Lindsey Graham, R-SC) was a cosponsor of S.987--the Protect IP act, which is the predecessor to SOPA.

Guess who I'm not voting for this coming election.  :doubt:
Title: Re: SOPA
Post by: Black Wolf on November 19, 2011, 04:53:23 pm
Just going to get in here and say this - Anytime I've heard members of government talking about public involvement (and this has been from Australian polies and at least one American), whenever they're asked about this sort of thing, always state that actual, physical snail-mail letters are far and away the most effective way of getting your voices heard. It's very easy to click a button on an e-petition, but that same ease means they tend to get ignored. If this is something that really matters to you, bust open Word, write a few lines, stick a stamp on it and post it off. It's worth a dozen emails and a thousand clicks on an e-petition. :nod:
Title: Re: SOPA
Post by: achtung on November 19, 2011, 07:40:55 pm
Just going to get in here and say this - Anytime I've heard members of government talking about public involvement (and this has been from Australian polies and at least one American), whenever they're asked about this sort of thing, always state that actual, physical snail-mail letters are far and away the most effective way of getting your voices heard. It's very easy to click a button on an e-petition, but that same ease means they tend to get ignored. If this is something that really matters to you, bust open Word, write a few lines, stick a stamp on it and post it off. It's worth a dozen emails and a thousand clicks on an e-petition. :nod:

Very true. Phone calls help as well, or so I've heard.
Title: Re: SOPA
Post by: jg18 on November 19, 2011, 11:45:28 pm
Just going to get in here and say this - Anytime I've heard members of government talking about public involvement (and this has been from Australian polies and at least one American), whenever they're asked about this sort of thing, always state that actual, physical snail-mail letters are far and away the most effective way of getting your voices heard. It's very easy to click a button on an e-petition, but that same ease means they tend to get ignored. If this is something that really matters to you, bust open Word, write a few lines, stick a stamp on it and post it off. It's worth a dozen emails and a thousand clicks on an e-petition. :nod:
FWIW, the e-mails included my real name and my occupation (e.g., where I go to school), or enough to establish that I'm a real person. But yes, you're right.

Unfortunately, sending them mail is not as easily accomplished as it might sound. Members of Congress typically have four different offices (listed on their webpages), and while their office in Washington, DC is presumably the main one (or at least their official one), whether a letter sent there will actually reach their office in a reasonable amount of time seems iffy, given that the holiday season (meaning heavy mail traffic) begins shortly, there might still be recovery from last month's nor'easter (see the quote below), security screening and who knows what else.

But it's worth a try. I'll give their offices a call sometime soon, and assuming I can get a response from a human, I'll explain my reason for calling and see if there's a realistic chance of their receiving a letter.

Quote
Although mail delivery to the United States Capitol offices has resumed, the delivery process is still very slow and not yet back to normal. Until the mail process is more timely, the best way to contact me or my Washington, DC staff remains either by phone or via the contact form on this page.
Title: Re: SOPA
Post by: Mongoose on November 20, 2011, 03:52:20 am
I've just been doing my messaging through the group Demand Progress, though I can't remember which original issue got me on their mailing list.  While physically mailing letters and making calls is definitely a good thing, I figure being part of a solid chunk of several hundred thousand people presented together isn't all that bad either.