We here at the CaffiNation don’t take our freedoms lightly. And we are banding together with Boing Boing, Google and many other websites to show people what the internet means to our society. Bad legislation that gives unchecked power to not only disable sites, but to do so in a hamfisted way, which can very easily break the way the internet functions.
This doesn’t just affect people in the USA, but everywhere. But the problem is that we are the only ones who can can change things. Here is the short explanation. via Michael Geist ”
While there is little that people living outside the U.S. can do to influence SOPA and PIPA, there are many reasons why it is important for everyone to participate in tomorrow’s SOPA protest.
First, the SOPA provisions are designed to have an extra-territorial effect in countries around the world.
Second, non-U.S. businesses and websites could easily find themselves targeted by SOPA. The bill grants the U.S. “in rem” jurisdiction over any website that does not have a domestic jurisdictional connection.
Third, millions rely on the legitimate sites that are affected by the legislation. Whether creating a Wikipedia entry, posting a comment on Reddit, running a WordPress blog, participating in an open source software project, or reading a posting on Boing Boing, the lifeblood of the Internet is a direct target of SOPA. If non-Americans remain silent, they may ultimately find the sites and services they rely upon silenced by this legislation.
Fourth, the U.S. intellectual property strategy has long been premised on exporting its rules to other countries. SOPA virtually guarantees that this will continue.”
Why bother breaking things to try and support business models with legislation? Thats the easy part, the people who have the money have the means to grease the wheels of government. Its time to shine a light on that slimy practice and remind the lawmakers who puts them in those hallowed halls.