First off I want to inform all and any of my readers the following is NOT my writing. It is from Jane Wells in an email that was sent out to everyone with a wordpress blog. I take no credit in what is said here. But I recommend that anyone with opportunity to take a moment and stand up for our rights.
On January 18, 2012, sites all over the internet will be blacking out to protest and try to mobilize more people to speak out against this bill coming up in the Senate next week — S. 968: the Protect IP Act (PIPA) — in an attempt to let U.S. lawmakers know how much opposition there is. WordPress.org, Wikipedia, and even WordPress.com VIP I Can Has Cheezburger? will be participating in the blackout to raise awareness and spur you to action.
Here on WordPress.com, we want to participate as well. Freshly Pressed will be blacked out during the strike. Sorry to take away your daily fix of yummy web content, but this bill threatens to do that on a much wider scale. You don’t want that, do you?
More importantly, we are making it possible for you to participate in the protest. There are two options: a “Stop Censorship” ribbon and a full blackout. The blackout portion will be in effect January 18 from 8am to 8pm EST, while the ribbon will be displayed until January 24. Here’s how to join in:
Go to Settings → Protest SOPA/PIPA in your dashboard.
Select if you want to join the blackout or show a ribbon.
If you choose to join the blackout, you can edit the message that will be shown on your site during the blackout.
Preview what your protest will look like.
Click “Save Changes” button to activate your protest.
That’s it! Easy-peasy activism right at your fingertips.
The “Stop Censorship” ribbon will display in the upper corner of your site and links to americancensorship.org. It will display until January 24, 2012 (the Senate vote date).
If you choose to do the blackout in addition to the ribbon, then we will black out your site from 8am to 8pm EST along with the official strike. You can customize the message that will appear on your blacked-out site to tell people why this issue is important to you. Your site will return to just displaying the ribbon after the strike is over.
I hope that a significant number of you on WordPress.com will join in this protest. Publishing freedom is a right we must protect.
And one last pitch: whatever you decide to do about your site, please take a few minutes to head over to americancensorship.org and take action. It only takes a few moments of your time to be an agent of change!
~ Me again~
Motion Picture Assn. of America Chief Executive Chris Dodd, the former Senator from Connecticut,
“It is an irresponsible response and a disservice to people who rely on them for information and who use their services,” Dodd said in a statement. “It is also an abuse of power given the freedoms these companies enjoy in the marketplace today.” (read more)
Which the above statement may be true, and I understand that the main ‘goal’ is to stop copy-written items from being abused and overused. But it’s the core idea that is what matters and offends me. It is my opinion that if this bill passes we honestly lose the right to protect our rights to free speech, and privacy, if we are being censored it will not be long before ANYone that speaks out in one way or another will be deleted, and the message or whatever it was that they were trying to relay or get out there would never be known of (such as the Occupy Movement it wouldn’t have become a movement without the media footage {even as little as it was} wouldn’t have been heard if it weren’t for the internet, blogs, Facebook, tweets, all of those places that they are wanting to censor). But of course they’re sugar-coating it, wanting you to believe the main reasoning for SOPA/PIPA is to stop piracy. Pull your head out of your arse and see it for what it really is. Take the candy away from that baby and see the truth.
This is why Jan the 18 of 2012 I will be participating in the Blackout.
End Propagandaing.
