As most of you probably know, my blog — along with many others — was blacked out for part of the day yesterday to protest two toxic bills that are going through the U.S. Congress: SOPA and PIPA. These were meant as anti-piracy bills, but the way they were written, they would have destroyed the internet’s ability to thrive while not really doing a whole lot to vanquish piracy. If these bills were to pass, big, useful sites like Wikipedia could not exist and small blogs like mine could not safely link to other sites, show videos or even have comments on our blog posts! I could be fined or my human sent to jail for sharing fun cat gifs like this one:
Yesterday’s protest was a big success, with several senators withdrawing support for PIPA, but our work is not yet done. We must continue to put pressure on our Congresshumans to make sure that the internet stays free and creative, and that real anti-piracy bills get written. Please call your senators and representatives and let them and their staff know how you feel. Emailing is nowhere near as effective as calling, so please pick up the phone. SOPA is HR 3261 (you will call your member of the House for that) and PIPA is S 968 (you will call your Senators for this one). These people cannot represent you if they do not know what you are thinking! I know many of you do not think your Congresshumans represent you anyway, but give them a chance. My human has met her Representative, kept in touch with him and listened to him speak many times and he really does pay attention.
So please keep up the good work! Don’t let the LOLcats die (and with SOPA and PIPA, this YouTube video could not even exist):
If you cannot see the video above, click here to watch on YouTube!
See all of Summer’s merch at her Designercat Shop, available on Zazzle.
It’s wonderful that so many backed out yesterday… Power of those who use the Internet. Wonderful.
pawhugs, Max
LOVED the video! Can I share it on my FB?
Hope the SOPA/PIPA will be buried for good!
We sure hope that we can keep it from passing. I called my representative yesterday. That would be just awful if they passed that bill. Thanks for all your hard work on this project. Take care.
We loved seeing everybuddy ban together in protest of these stoopid bills!! We will continue the fight!! We saw that video yesterday and we loved it!!
Spay and neuter! Those politicians should not be reproducing!
Rock on Sparkle!
We support all of yous guys fighting for these laws to NOT pass in the US! Did yous know that the US, Canadian and many other countries have signed agreements where even if you live in another country and upset a copyright holder, you can be prosecuted because of those agreements?
Even though we don’t live in the US, we has been writing letters too.
Kisses
Nellie
I loved the video. I am opposed to SOPA and PIPA. My HR rep is opposed. Both of my senators were co-sponsors but one is backpedaling (the other doesn’t care what we think, I have contacted him before). I have contacted them all anyway but I am not sure that they care what I think.
Nice to know the cause was helped by paws!!!! Way to go cat blogosphere 🙂
We loved the pic of you int he litter box burying SOPA! We will keep at this to make sure the internet stays free.
The publicist says her representative only cares about being elected to the senate and her senators only care about the representative not getting elected to the senate.
The publicist is a cynic when it comes to congresshumans
Everyone in the US should YELL!! Shout at your Senators to stop this!!
We’re opposed to this too and sure hope they leave the internet alone!
These are two very dangerous bills. It seems like congress constantly thinks up worse things to attack us with every day. When these bills go away there will be more to take their place. We have to always watch them to keep them from taking our freedom. Too many of our politicians are too stupid to understand that in the end they’re not even immune from the effects of bills like these either.
Sparkle
We agree with you.
Another good avenue if people wish to utilize online help is Twitter and Facebook. I noticed yesterday that a lot of Congress was watching what was being tweeted to them about SOPA.
Thank you for your kind words. I am back from the Vet and Mom is praying I regain my appetite.
purrs
>^,,^<
♥Abby♥Boo♥Ping♥Jinx♥Grace♥
Love the video. Good thing they are starting to back down. How scary. Great post!
We hope they get the message. That’s a great video!
We wrote to our congressman yesterday and have already received a letter from him.
We LUBZ dat video! We wuz gonna put a linkie on my blog to it but MY Human forgotted.
Really? I’m SHOCKED.
Awesome video! Thanks for joining the Pipa/Sopa fight – and the #ThankfulTHursday Blog Hop (which you all can join *any* day, btw…)
Love you Sparkle.
SOPA can sniff my butt.
Cokes
Oh! I forgot to mention that that cat video is hilarious, too! I’m a little afraid to laugh at it because it might turn out to be a kitty who’s a little touched in the head, or with some sort of disability. But it looks more like my mom. She always thinks she can do more than she’s humanly capable of. MOL. =^..^=
OK hold the phone. Dad just watched the jumping cat video and pointed out that the cat’s back legs slip on the counter, which is why he loses traction and can’t make the jump. He must have been embarrassed. =^..^=
We understand the INTENT of SOPA but there are better ways ta do it.
I am wif u! lets dig a big hole for SOPA!