The Petition
The House and Senate are considering two bills. One is the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Senate is considering an identical bill called PROTECT IP.
These bills are terrible ideas. They will create laws as draconian as China's laws and will allow the government or even private individuals to cause a website to be shut down on a mere allegation.
If someone claims a copyright violation, the web hosting service has five days to remove the website or be sued. Search engines are required to delete any reference to the site, so it cannot be found. All of this is done before the owner of the website even gets a day in court. Many websites are run by small business owners who cannot afford the incredible legal fees they would incur just to get their site back up and running.
These bills give the government the power to go in and shut down a website on the mere claim of an infringement. Does anyone really trust Barack Obama or Eric Holder with our free speech rights? Does anyone really trust them not to shut down sites they do not like?
We must tell Congress under no circumstances should these bills ever be passed. The Internet has become and amazing place to share ideas and to exercise free speech. These bills would kill free speech on the Internet and must be stopped.
Join us today. Sign this petition and tell Congress to keep its hands off of our free speech and keep its hand off the Internet.
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