UPDATE: (01/18/12) Please join us in calling members of Congress to oppose any bill that suppresses our voices online.
Today the Internet is going black to oppose the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA). We depend on an open Internet to strengthen the political voice of Black America. If Congress passes these online censorship measures, the full potential of that voice is threatened. The story of Black America should be told by those who live it. SOPA and PIPA threaten our ability to tell that story online. Today's protest is one of many actions needed to stop SOPA and PIPA.
We're standing in solidarity with online activists across the nation and high traffic sites including Google, Wikipedia and Reddit, all of whom want to make it clear how hard it would be to get information online if SOPA and PIPA pass.
These bills could greatly stifle our ability to leverage the power of our more than 800,000 members online. The voices of our members have already been heard online through over 6 million actions. We want to ensure that our community continues to have access to the information we need to take 6 million more.
SOPA and PIPA falsely promise to fight online piracy. They claim to keep people from being able to download music and other content in ways that infringe on copyright laws. But as currently drafted, the bills would compromise every user's experience by granting private companies and the government unprecedented power over online speech. Giving Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and the government power to shut down websites without due process runs counter to what the Internet is and should continue to be.
We could not do our work without access to breaking news and user-generated content from blogs, YouTube and Twitter. If SOPA and PIPA become law, YouTube and Twitter may cease to exist.
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