Do you like BCC? Do you like the sidebar, the news we bring you, our book reviews and our discussion of what’s happening in Mormonism? The U.S. Senate, in dizzying heights of internet ignorance, is in the process of considering legislation that very well could shutter our sidebar and censor our speech, closing the Bloggernacle. The legislation is called the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), and could have severe legal consequences for us if we linked to a site anywhere online that had any possible links to copyright infringement.
Suffice it to say, this would devastate much of the internet. PIPA’s stupid sister, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), is no better. It’s time for you to visit AmericanCensorship.org and contact your Senator, who very probably doesn’t even use email. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has more information on this as well.
You have already probably heard a lot about this issue from Google, Craigslist, Wikipedia and a host of other sites that have gone dark today. We’re keeping our content up out of dedication to you, our community, but this is really important. Please take a minute and speak up today.
Here are the phone numbers for your senators:
AK, Lisa Murkowski, 907-456-0233
AL, Jefferson Sessions, 334-244-7017
AL, Richard Shelby, 205-759-5047
AR, John Boozman, 479-725-0400
AR, Mark Pryor, 501-324-6336
AZ, Jon Kyl, 602-840-1891
AZ, John McCain, 602-952-2410
CA, Barbara Boxer, 510-286-8537
CA, Dianne Feinstein, 415-393-0707
CO, Michael Bennet, 303-455-7600
CT, Richard Blumenthal, 860-258-6940
CT, Joseph Lieberman, 860-549-8463
DE, Thomas Carper, 302-573-6291
DE, Chris Coons, 302-573-6345
FL, Bill Nelson, 407-872-7161
FL, Marco Rubio, 305-418-8553
GA, C. Saxby Chambliss, 770-763-9090
GA, John Isakson, 770-661-0999
HI, Daniel Akaka, 808-522-8970
HI, Daniel Inouye, 808-541-2542
IA, Charles Grassley, 515-288-1145
IA, Thomas Harkin, 515-284-4574
ID, Michael Crapo, 208-334-1776
ID, James Risch, 208-342-7985
IL, Richard Durbin, 312-353-4952
IL, Mark Kirk, 312-886-3506
IN, Daniel Coats, 317-554-0750
IN, Richard Lugar, 317-226-5555
KS, Pat Roberts, 913-451-9343
KY, Mitch McConnell, 502-582-6304
KY, Rob Portman, 361-576-1231
LA, Mary Landrieu, 225-389-0395
LA, David Vitter, 337-262-6898
MA, Scott Brown, 617-565-3170
MA, John Kerry, 617-565-8519
MD, Barbara Mikulski, 410-962-4510
ME, Susan Collins, 207-945-0417
ME, Olympia Snowe, 207-874-0883
MI, Carl Levin, 313-226-6020
MI, Debbie Stabenow, 517-203-1760
MN, Al Franken, 651-221-1016
MN, Amy Klobuchar, 612-727-5220
MO, Roy Blunt, 816-471-7141
MO, Claire McCaskill, 816-421-1639
MS, Thad Cochran, 601-965-4459
MS, Roger Wicker, 601-965-4644
MT, Max Baucus, 406-657-6790
MT, Jon Tester, 406-449-5401
NC, Richard Burr, 910-251-1058
NC, Kay Hagan, 336-333-5311
ND, Kent Conrad, 701-258-4648
ND, John Hoeven, 701-250-4618
NE, Mike Johanns, 308-632-6032
NE, E. Benjamin Nelson, 402-441-4600
NH, Kelly Ayotte, 603-622-7979
NH, Jeanne Shaheen, 603-647-7500
NJ, Frank Lautenberg, 973-639-8700
NJ, Robert Menendez, 973-645-3030
NM, Jeff Bingaman, 505-346-6601
NM, Tom Udall, 505-346-6791
NV, Dean Heller, 775-686-5770
NV, Harry Reid, 702-388-5020
NY, Kirsten Gillibrand, 212-688-6262
NY, Charles Schumer, 212-486-4430
OH, Sherrod Brown, 216-522-7272
OK, James Inhofe, 918-748-5111
OK, Tom Coburn, 918-581-7651
OR, Jeffery Merkley, 503-326-3386
PA, Robert Casey, 570-941-0930
PA, Pat Toomey, 610-434-1444
RI, John Reed, 401-943-3100
RI, Sheldon Whitehouse, 401-453-5294
SC, Jim DeMint, 864-233-5366
SC, Lindsey Graham, 864-250-1417
SD, Tim Johnson, 414-276-7282
SD, John Thune, 605-334-9596
TN, Lamar Alexander, 615-736-5129
TN, Bob Corker, 423-756-2757
TX, John Cornyn, 512-469-6034
TX, Kay Hutchison, 214-361-3500
UT, Orrin Hatch, 801-524-4380
UT, Mike Lee, 801-524-5933
VA, Mark Warner, 804-775-2314
VA, James Webb, 804-771-2221
VT, Patrick Leahy, 802-863-2525
VT, Bernard Sanders, 802-862-0697
WA, Patty Murray, 206-553-5545
WI, Ron Johnson, 605-332-8896
WI, Herbert Kohl, 414-297-4451
WV, Joe Manchin, 304-342-5855
WV, John Rockefeller, 304-347-5372
WY, John Barrasso, 307-261-6413
WY, Michael Enzi, 307-682-6268
Well done, Steve. This law is truly scary. Censorship always should be met with extreme prejudice by a free people.
Mostly you’re still a enemy to all righteousness, but thanks for this Steve. Hugely, hugely important.
It’s a series of tubes!
What would be the actual impact on this site? It’s not obvious for a bystander to sort out the reality from the raging persecution complex.
The tubes will be empty. PIPA / SOPA are wrongheaded and counterproductive.
John, realistically we’d have to close the sidebar and we’d probably not link out to most places.
You would also have to moderate comments, or disallow them altogether, because site owners become liable for *all* content on their site, regardless of who originated it.
http://www.usa.gov/Contact/Elected.shtml
You can find email, phone numbers, mailing address, all of it here.
Yeah, I wrote to my rep. awhile ago. Whose inane idea were these pieces of legislation anyway? As someone who lives in a highly regulated place, the whole idea makes me sick.
While intellectual property rights are important, these two pieces of legislation are like trying to use a chainsaw to trim your toenails. It’s just plain wrong, and seems to fly in the face of the long established “fair use doctrine.” Already wrote my congressman, and both senators. Do it, people!
Co-sponsors (of the two bills) are starting to drop out. That seems like progress.
I called each person who represents my area. I asked the persons who answered the phone, point blank, how the elected official intended to vote on these two bills.
The first one didn’t repsond directly, instead asking me if I had a message for the Senator. I told him in no uncertain terms that I am not a one-issue voter and never have been, but that if he supported these bills I would do everything in my power to see him defeated in the next election – since I couldn’t imagine anyone who was knowledgable about our modern world and possessed even half a brain supporting them. The person asked if there was anything else I wanted to say. I told him he really didn’t want to hear what else I might say – and I repeated that I was totally serious about opposing the Senator if he voted for them.
The second person said the Representative was still trying to decide (such a perfect political answer) and asked why I wanted to know. I repeated my response above, adding that I couldn’t imagine any truly educated, intelligent person supporting them in our modern economy, especially.
I got the feeling those offices are fielding a lot of similar calls today.
Yes, my Senators’ offices sounded VERY familiar with the issue. One even said the Senator had asked them to gauge opinion on the issue. I think that’s a good sign.
Let’s see, place Steve Evans, and the others who have commented on this anti-American-government blog onto “the List”. Check.
Now, Let’s see how y’all like the next strip search we do on you rebels the next time you go through an airport!
Signed,
Management.
i have left messages for several of my states senators & representatives. Let me be clear: this is an issue that has an impact on ANYONE who publishes online or maintains a website with any outside links and user-generated content.
@#15: The federal government isn’t that organized….
@#15. Very funny. Me? a mormon reb. I mean, that’s almost as cool as actually being in Star Wars.
“Please take a minute and speak up today.”
Done. I think this explanation is helpful.
Rob Portman is from OH. Rand Paul is the other senator from KY, with McConnell.
Rand Paul?
Sorry, I’m having a hard time wrapping my mind around that one. Granted, I really don’t know much about Paul, the Younger, but still . . .
Only one of my elected representatives’ websites even addresses SOPA/PIPA–he opposes it. On his online comment form, I thanked him for his position, and on the other two websites my comment was similar to Ray’s: I’m not a single issue voter, but if they voted for SOPA/PIPA, I would do everything I could to be sure they were not re-elected.
Called several weeks ago. I appreciate BCC’s post on this.
http://static.thepiratebay.org/legal/sopa.txt –> funny press release.
And of course, now that I’ve linked to it THIS SITE IS GOING DOWN!!! HAHAHAHA… JUST WAIT UNTIL FEBRUARY, YOU FOOLS!!! LONG LIVE SOPA!!
Mock all you want. As a government, we may not be well organized, but at least we’re inefficient as well. We might have to arrest tens of thousands of innocent people, but we’ll eventually get to you as well. There are cages awaiting all of you Internet terrorists at Guantanamo….
Oh, and make sure and vote to reelect Pres Obama!
This link ought to go in the sidebar: http://projects.propublica.org/sopa/ Its an easy way to see where your congressperson stands.
#26, thanks for posting this link. It was great to see Utah on the “opposed” side.
Big Brother,
Evidently Romney supports NDAA. McCain helpwrite it. I suppose the support SOPA. Why not?
Ron Paul has no chance even if he is elected, which he won’t be.
“It’s the end of the world as we know it.”
I absolutely, positively, detest this bill.
Glass Ceiling,
Your statements regarding Ron Paul, Mitt or McCain are all subject to your poor typing skills. As a major government oversight agency, we could not decipher portions of your message. We’ve decided it comes down to either poor state level teaching, or you are a terrorist spy attempting to send a hidden message to other rogue groups working together on this blog. Either way, you are now on our radar. Obviously the federal government needs to come to your house and give you several weeks of “intense therapy” to assist you with either of these “disabilities”.
I went to Wikipedia yesterday and was so annoyed at not being able to get the info I wanted quick and dirty, I made an effort to contact my rep and senators to protest SOPA/PIPA. Unfortunately I don’t know how to tweet or use the Google service they provided links to and I am fearful of using facebook for anything. So when they didn’t provide a link which I could merely click and they would automatically send a largely meaningless scathing email to each of them in my name, I lost interest.
Then I read an opposing view with more detail: http://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/post-partisan/post/sopa-pipa-wont-break-the-internet/2012/01/18/gIQA3dAP8P_blog.html.
Now I am not so sure
Craig, the opposing view actually has less detail, not more. The fact that you don’t know how to tweet, use Google or Facebook says to me that you do not really understand the Internet, like our Congress. That op-ed is just wrong, straight up.
Craig, you might want to consider the assessment of the person who developed the WWW in the first place:
http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/business-it/father-of-the-web-backs-sopa-protests-20120119-1q7rm.html
Big Brother,
My typo was because of a phone. That’s my excuse.
So, what’s your excuse for being an ass?
Easy Glass Ceiling, take a step back and breathe.
Glass Ceiling, sorry if I’ve hurt your feelings. All of this has been tongue in cheek!
I’m definitely against SOPA, and I know you are an intelligent person. I was just trying to play the part of the big government, but I guess I took it too far, just as the fed has….
“you might want to consider the assessment of the person who developed the WWW in the first place”
#33 – This must be a liberal hell-hole if it’s allowing a link to something written by Al Gore.
It’s been a long day; I nearly missed the joke :)
On an unrelated note, I once had the unique opportunity of spending 90 minutes one-on-one with Vint Cerf, discussing concepts and ideas for IP protection online. I stand in awe of that man.
Ram,
No worries….
And thanks for letting me know. :
Glass, no worries. Besides, I was getting bored with being the heavy handed socialist Big Brother government type. I’m much more the easy going libertarian “make pizza, not war” type.
Here is a link to a Clay Shirky video explanation of why these bills are bad: http://www.ted.com/talks/defend_our_freedom_to_share_or_why_sopa_is_a_bad_idea.html?utm_source=newsletter_weekly_2012-01-20