Have you been paying attention to all the hubbub online about the proposed U.S. legislation (SOPA/PIPA) that threatens internet freedom? The gist is this: there’s a bill in the U.S. Senate that if passed would put publishing freedom severely at risk, and could shut down entire sites at the whim of media companies.
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.
A “Stop Censorship” ribbon will display in the upper corner of our site and links to americancensorship.org. It will display until January 24, 2012 (the Senate vote date). Our blog will be blacked out from 8AM to 8PM EST along with the official strike.
Publishing freedom is a right we must protect. 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!
You will enjoy this short video explaining more…
PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.