I received this email from Ben Simon from Mozilla.org and wanted to pass it on. Pass it on – tweet it, like it, whatever. What do you think of this Internet Censorship Bill?

Hi Sheila,

Last week, supporters of online innovation rallied together in an impressive display of support: there were more than one million emails and 87,000 calls to Congress on Wednesday alone in opposition to the Stop Online Piracy & Protect IP Acts.

You were a major part of that.

But that effort was just the first part of what will be a long campaign if we’re going to preserve the internet we know and love — which is why I’m writing to you today.

The latest update from Washington suggests that Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid could try to move the Protect IP Act as early as next week.

This legislation is being billed as less harmful than SOPA — but the fact is that it would still threaten the foundational structure of the internet, without actually addressing its stated goal of protection of intellectual property.

So along with other organizations fighting to protect the internet as we know it, we’re helping organize a massive day of constituent calls to the Senate next Tuesday, asking them not to pass PIPA in its current form.

Will you commit to be a part of it? By building up support now, we’ll be able to maximize the impact we can all have on Tuesday.

As Mark Surman wrote last week, we at Mozilla see this as a fight for the future of the internet. Here are just a few of the potential consequences if this legislation passes:

— Whole sites — from YouTube to WordPress — could be under threat for something as simple as a member posting a video of themselves singing a copyrighted pop song

— General-purpose social media sites like Twitter or Facebook could be forced to track and control user behavior, curbing innovation and undermining free expression

— Your internet provider could be required to monitor all of your browsing, and also to block your access to specific web addresses

— Overall, the web could become less stable and less secure

While we share the legislation’s stated goal of stopping online piracy and protecting intellectual property, we believe the current DMCA framework can accomplish that — and that if either of these bills were to become law, they would represent unnecessary government regulations that could stifle an essential and growing part of our economy.

And they would place in peril the work we all do every day to help foster an open and innovative web.

So please commit to call next week. We’ll send you a reminder — along with instructions on how to call and some tips to make your call easier — on Tuesday morning:

https://donate.mozilla.org/PIPA-Call-Commit

Thanks so much,

Ben

P.S. — If you aren’t a US voter or resident, can you please pass this on to anyone you know who is? The more folks we can get engaged in this campaign, the greater our chances of success.

–

Ben Simon
Join Mozilla Lead
Mozilla Foundation

Related posts:

1. The Advent of Internet Censorship in America