http://www.politico.com/news/stories/0112/71535.html
SOPA protest: 7,000 and growing By: David Saleh Rauf January 17, 2012 12:31 PM EST An estimated 7,000 websites are planning to go dark Wednesday as part of a mass protest against a pair of controversial anti-piracy bills and opponents of the measures say the number is likely to increase. A mix of watchdog groups, content creators and grass-roots activists on Tuesday touted the planned mass Internet blackout as the largest online revolution in the U.S. to date. The online protest is aimed squarely at lawmakers pushing the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House and the PROTECT IP Act in the Senate and comes with a message: back off the bills or face the wrath of the same Internet community youre trying to regulate. Tomorrow will be a big day of action, said Tiffiniy Cheng, director of fightforthefuture.org, which is organizing the blackout. The fight will continue until we get the final say from members of Congress that these bills will be dropped, and well start from the beginning on how to balance protection of copyright with expression online. Wikipedia, Reddit and Wordpress are among several sites that have already committed to going black Wednesday. Liberal nonprofit Moveon.Org joined the cause Monday. Organizers say theyve confirmed most of the 7,000 sites that plan to participate. And the number is growing, Cheng said during a conference call with reporters. We may see some big sites too. Its not final. For now, though, the movement appears confined to a select group of online heavy hitters and a variety of smaller sites that dont generate nearly as much Web traffic, according to a list of anticipated participants posted on SOPAStrike.com. During the conference call, opponents of the bills said they dont plan to stop pressuring lawmakers until they see broad changes to the legislation. That includes removing domain name blocking provisions, providing clearer definitions and doing away with what opponents call blanket protection for intermediaries to act against suspected infringers. The tech community was completely shut out of the talks when these things were drafted, said Erik Martin, the general manager of Reddit. We really need to think about how we can go back and start over and have the other side involved. This article first appeared on POLITICO Pro at 12:24 p.m. on January 17, 2012. -- Larry C. Lyons web: http://www.lyonsmorris.com/lyons LinkedIn: http://www.linkedin.com/in/larryclyons There is a cult of ignorance in the United States, and there always has been. The strain of anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that "my ignorance is just as good as your knowl ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:345429 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
