ACTIVIST ALERT!

Ask Your Representative to Vote NO
on SOPA (H.R. 3261)

TOMORROW at 10:00 a.m. (EST) the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on the Judiciary will meet to mark up and potentially vote in committee on H.R. 3261, the “Stop Online Piracy Act” or SOPA.

According to the American Library Association, this bill, introduced in October by Rep. Lamar Smith (R-TX), not only threatens the future of the Internet as we know it, it jeopardizes protections currently enjoyed by individual citizens, as well as libraries. The bill has the potential to do significant damage in a number of ways – including the possibility of criminal prosecution of a library for streaming, censorship of internet activity, invasion of privacy rights, and even threatens national cyber security, among others.

Please call your U.S. Representative and ask them to vote “NO” on SOPA.

• For libraries, the bill strikes at copyright protections by creating the possibility of criminal prosecution of a library for streaming.
• SOPA’s requirements to monitor internet traffic violates free speech and privacy protections, not to mention raises the significant likelihood of a “chilling effect” on using the Internet for commerce, communication and participation in a democratic society.
• SOPA’s monitoring of the internet equates to surveillance potentially inviting new forms of government intrusion (within and outside the U.S.).
• Such monitoring or regulating of the Internet creates cyber security vulnerabilities as noted in a letter by top cyber security experts at Sandia National Laboratories (funded by the Department of Defense and Department of Energy).
• Finally, the predicted consequences of SOPA are far reaching. If passed, the potential for new jobs, innovative new ventures and economic growth would be stifled.

Click here then enter your zip code in the "CALL NOW" box for your representative's calling information.

For more information on SOPA, click here.