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Looking forward to participating in “Better Activism Day” on January 18 hosted by Clay Johnson .
From the announcement:
[I]n honor of the blackouts on the 18th, I’m holding a “Better Activism Day” with my friends at O’Reilly and PopVox — a livestream of experts, most of the day, who will talk about how to improve your power in Washington from people who’ve been successful at moving it. It’s time we started getting some of the inside-the-beltway expertise outside of Washington.
“one of the most dangerous problems we have in America is the disconnect between how people think Congress works, and how Congress actually works.”
We just received the following press release issued by Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform, Darrell Issa. We can’t find the link up yet online, so given the interest in this bill by POPVOX users, we are posting here. See links below to weigh in on the bills mentioned in the release.
Sent: Saturday, January 14, 2012 01:16 AM
Subject: Press Release — SOPA Not Headed to House Floor, OGR hearing postponed
Issa: Flawed SOPA Bill Not Headed to House Floor
OGR hearing planned for Wednesday postponed following assurances, removal of DNS provisions
Washington, DC – House Oversight and Government Reform Committee Chairman Darrell Issa today announced that a hearing scheduled for Wednesday, which was to examine the impact of Domain Name Service (DNS) and search engine blocking on the Internet, has been postponed following assurances that anti-piracy legislation will not move to the House floor this Congress without a consensus.
“While I remain concerned about Senate action on the Protect IP Act, I am confident that flawed legislation will not be taken up by this House. Majority Leader Cantor has assured me that we will continue to work to address outstanding concerns and work to build consensus prior to anyanti-piracy legislation coming before the House for a vote,” said Chairman Issa. “The voice of the Internet community has been heard. Much more education for Members of Congress about the workings of the Internet is essential if anti-piracy legislation is to be workable and achieve broad appeal.”
“Earlier tonight, Chairman Smith announced that he will remove the DNS blocking provision from his legislation. Although SOPA, despite the removal of this provision, is still a fundamentally flawed bill, I have decided that postponing the scheduled hearing on DNS blocking with technical experts is the best course of action at this time. Right now, the focus of protecting the Internet needs to be on the Senate where Majority Leader Reid has announced his intention to try to move similar legislation in less than two weeks.”
Chairman Issa intends to continue to push for Congress to heed the advice of Internet experts on anti-piracy legislation and to push for the consideration and passage of the bipartisan OPEN Act, which provides an alternative means for protecting intellectual property rights without undermining the structure and entrepreneurialism of the Internet. Learn more about Rep. Issa and Sen. Ron Wyden’s alternative the OPEN Act at www.keepthewebopen.com
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The PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) S. 968: Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011
S. 2029: Online Protection & Enforcement of Digital Trade Act (OPEN Act)
Given that H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act, was the most active bill on POPVOX this week, we decided to crunch some numbers related to the committee of jurisdiction on the bill. The House Judiciary Committee is currently considering the bill in a “mark-up”, which began in December and is set to resume next week when Congress returns.
Below is a chart of the input that Judiciary Committee members have received from their constituents through the POPVOX system.
A few observations:
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Every committee Member has received messages from their constituents regarding SOPA using POPVOX.
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Sentiment in every district is majority opposition (of sentiment registered on POPVOX.)
As we always emphasize, POPVOX is not a poll. It is simply a sample of what Congress is hearing from constituents. The messages that are counted on POPVOX have been received by these Members through their official correspondence systems. (See: How We Deliver Messages). POPVOX brings transparency, efficiency, and accountability to that system.
If you plan to join the Anti-SOPA Blackout on January 18, you can turn your website or blog into an online action center by using free widgets from POPVOX. The POPVOX Write Congress widget lets your visitors send a message to their member of Congress without leaving your site. A POPVOX Comment stream widget streams comments directly on your site so you can see what others are saying. Or just pick up a POPVOX “button” to link to the bill action page and show a real-time POPVOX sentiment tally.
POPVOX widgets are customizable for any bill, any position. So whether it is SOPA, PIPA, NDAA, or any other abbreviation… just pick up the code, and build your movement.
