I just did a post about the latest developments in the SOPA battle, but as it may become quickly outdated, I thought I’d do a post summarizing some of the most important links that are being shared around the Internet. Some of the links provide summaries of the while the bill is so dangerous and what has unfolded already, and some of the links are good places to keep up-to-date on what will unfold in the future. Feel free to add other important links in the comments.
The Dangers of SOPA
1. Washington Post: Everything you need to know about Congress’s online piracy bills, in one post. I don’t think it’s really everything (thus the 15 other links), but it’s a good place to start and it summarizes the bill(s) without sounding paranoid about anything.
2. Forbes: How SOPA Could Ruin My Life. A post from a small business owner concerned that SOPA could destroy a website that provides his income.
3. TechDirt: How SOPA 2.0 Sneaks In A Really Dangerous Private Ability To Kill Any Website. TechDirt explains how a new amendment to the bill makes it even worse.
4. TotalBiscuit: WTF is SOPA ? aka The American Government trying to ruin the internet. A UK Law graduate goes to YouTube to explain the dangers of this bill. It’s long (21 minutes) but pretty informative (especially if you don’t like reading or do like British accents). It’s getting shared around Twitter like crazy right now and has acquired over 1 million views in less than two days.
Opposition to SOPA
5. An Open Letter to Washington. From co-founders of Netscape, Firefox, Google, Twitter, Flickr, Yahoo!, LinkedIn, The Huffington Post, YouTube, PayPal, craigslist, eBay, Wikipedia, Blogger, and more. They all think this bill is a bad idea.
6. EFF: An Open Letter From Internet Engineers to the US Congress. From 83 Internet engineers and inventors who designed the protocols that make the Internet work. They all think this bill is a really bad idea.
7. Techdirt: Why The Public Is Willing To Rally Against SOPA/PIPA, But Not For It. Article summarizing a lot of the public outcry that is mobilizing against SOPA.
News About SOPA
8. Washington Post: The Nightmarish SOPA Hearings. This is probably the most important news account of the events so far. I have seen it shared and quoted numerous times across the Internet. It demonstrates the utter lack of understanding possessed by many of the Congressmen that will decide this bill’s fate.
9. EFF: @efflive. Members of the Electronic Frontier Foundation have been using this account to provide live updates about the hearings. They have also been occasionally posting links to other interesting information about SOPA. If and when the hearings resume on Wednesday and you can’t watch C-SPAN or need to multi-task, this is the page you want to be refreshing.
10. Twitter: search “sopa”. This link will search “sopa” on Twitter and give you a constantly updating feed with all the latest info being shared about it. A lot of the other links on this page have come from searching “sopa” on Twitter throughout the week and seeing what links keep popping up a lot. (Bonus: since “sopa” is also the Spanish word for “soup”, the feed occasionally includes an oblivious Hispanic tweeting about “mucha sopa por mi” or “RT si no te gusta la sopa”.. retweet if you don’t like the soup! We all need a little comic relief in this fight.)
The Fight Against SOPA
11. Reddit: Zoe Lofgren on Reddit. One of the few representatives opposing this bill got on reddit, one of the Internet communities opposing this bill, and explained how phone calls are much more effective than tweets and posts for getting in touch with the non-techy representatives.
12. Fight For The Future. Recognizing that calling representatives has a higher barrier than firing off an email or tweet, Fight For The Future has a fantastic form where you give them your number and they will call you, give you some talking points about the bill, and then transfer you straight to your representative.
I will conclude with the Twitter accounts of four representatives who seem to be leading the fight against SOPA. Encourage them, especially if they are in your district, and stay tuned for official updates on what’s going with the committee, the bill, and the house:
13. Zoe Lofgren (D-CA): @repzoelofgren
14. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT): @jasoninthehouse
15. Jared Polis (D-CO): @jaredpolis
16. Darrell Issa (R-OH): @darrellissa