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January 18, 2012 12:57 AM UTC

Colorado Pols Joins SOPA Protest Blackout

  • 53 Comments
  • by: Colorado Pols

After much deliberation, the management of Colorado Pols has chosen to black out our website, starting at midnight tonight, for the entire day on Wednesday. Colorado Pols will go offline as a protest against proposed federal legislation: the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate.

It is the majority opinion of the Colorado Pols community that this legislation, if passed, would directly threaten the free and open internet that allowed our blog to grow into the largest forum for discussion of local politics in the state of Colorado. We do not as general policy engage in direct advocacy for or against legislation, but the potential consequences of SOPA/PIPA for the very existence of public forums like our own obligates an extraordinary response. We hope to be joined in this action tomorrow by blogs and websites from across the political spectrum.

Colorado Pols will be back in operation at 12:01AM Thursday morning.

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53 thoughts on “Colorado Pols Joins SOPA Protest Blackout”

    2. Alas, I cannot stay up past 11pm if I want to be up and at ’em at by a reasonable hour the next day. I will think of the ‘pols while I am brewing beer on Thursday morning.

  8. Now, didn’t I read somewhere that our very own Sen Bennet is a sponsor of the legislation?  Is there an organized effort to communicate our opposition to him and to his office?

      1. I got this reply from his office today:


        Dear Harry:

        Thank you for contacting me regarding H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). I appreciate hearing from you.

        Let me begin by saying I strongly support safeguarding the intellectual property of all Americans. Intellectual property rights are vital to our economy. Every day that intellectual property is insufficiently safeguarded, American businesses stand to lose billions of dollars that result in the loss of thousands of jobs due to copyright infringement and the sale of counterfeit goods. As you may know, I supported the America Invents Act (P.L. 112-29), which passed the Senate on September 8, 2011. This legislation would streamline the patent application process, establish new rules to protect inventors and eliminate unworthy patents, and create consistency for all applicants and patent owners in the application and litigation processes. It provides for the first significant changes to the nation’s patent system in nearly 60 years, and in the process creates jobs and boosts the economy without adding a dime to the deficit. The America Invents Act was signed into law by President Obama on September 16, 2011.

        The internet has revolutionized the way we communicate, has sped the proliferation of ideas and products and grown into an integral marketplace.  Unfortunately there is a disturbingly large number of criminals who take advantage of this forum by stealing and illegally distributing intellectual property. Many of these individuals do not even live in the country. I support a commonsense solution to this threat to American innovation.

        As you may know, Representative Lamar Smith of Texas introduced SOPA before the House of Representatives on October 26, 2011. This legislation would authorize the Attorney General to seek legal action such as temporary restraining orders or injunctions to prevent illegal distribution of intellectual property.  However no monetary damages are authorized in the bill. The bill has not been considered by the full House at this juncture. And SOPA has not been introduced in the United States Senate.

        You may be interested to know that a bill addressing similar piracy concerns has been introduced in the Senate. The PROTECT IP Act (S.968) was introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy of Vermont. The legislation focuses on criminally-operated foreign websites. This bill received unanimous support from the Senate Judiciary Committee. It now awaits consideration by the full Senate. Rest assured I will keep your thoughts and concerns in mind should either bill be debated on the Senate floor.

        I value the input of fellow Coloradans in considering the wide variety of important issues and legislative initiatives that come before the Senate. I hope you will continue to inform me of your thoughts and concerns.

        For more information about my priorities as a U.S. Senator, I invite you to visit my website at http://bennet.senate.gov/. Again, thank you for contacting me.

        Sincerely,

        Michael Bennet

        United States Senator

        DeGette acknowledged my email, but I haven’t gotten a formal response from her yet.

        I hope someone keeps statistics on the number of blacked-out sites to show Congress how serious this matter is being taken.

        1. My company sells software over the Internet. Our software is pirated. I have a gigantic business interest in reducing digital piracy.

          But this bill would hurt my business. Totally aside from how it would substantially reduce free speech on the Internet, it’s also bad for businesses that sell on the net.

          What it is good for is businesses that would like to see the Internet disappear. Or if not disappear, see it’s use greatly reduced.

          Senator Bennet, this bill does not help most online companies, it hurts them. If you don’t already know that (I suspect you do), please talk with Representative Polis as he can explain it.

  10. SOPA was a done deal set to be signed into law by now. The delay in committee was key to providing enough time to build up this level of opposition. This delay is due to a couple of representatives in Congress. Jared was one of that few.

    An email or call to his office in appreciation would be good. (But call Bennet’s office, any your rep first.)

  14. Thanks Pols and Polsters for standing up on this issue.  

    As to supporters or non-supporters, sopaopera.org has a list, though I don’t know how current it is.

    I was thrilled to see the White House come out against SOPA, though I do have concerns about how they’re going to “fix it” to avoid disrupting the structure of the internet.

    1. just for self centered celebrity assholes who want to see themselves there and idiots who will pay to watch them. I’m sure everyone would flock to it.  Or not.

      In the meantime they need to just leave the fucking internet alone.

  15. I believe when people click the links tomorrow on Wikipedia, Google, etc. it will list that individuals Congressman and 2 Senators, with contact info. If so, that means Congress members will get calls from constituents.

    The giant question is will people call (or email, tweet, post to Facebook, etc.). People who usually pay no attention to politics. And will it be lots of them.

    If not, then SOPA will pass and the much heralded power of social media takes a hit. But if Congress is inundated tomorrow, then the political power of social media take a giant jump. And SOPA/PIPA are probably dead.

  16. Now, if you’ll excuse me, I gotta try and find a life for 24 hours . . .

    (BTW, any of you “members of the tribe”?  Maybe come back up after sundown tomorrow?)

  19. is that there hasn’t even been an industry shill attempt, let alone real people, trying to explain why this is something other than, bare minimum, good intentions wrapped in horribly written legislation.

      1. You know how everyone is proud to be the first poster on certain pols diaries.  Anyone up for being the last poster? I am in! Oh actually I am going to bed now.  But I want to know who wins.

    1. let the Condo spammers post (ArapaGOP? . . . how many jobs does this guy have?), but keep the rest of us waiting like some weird, loser in-laws . . .  

      1. that wikipedia could still be used if you clicked the “stop loading” button fast enough. I didn’t try it here, but I wonder if it was possible to do it before the redirect?

          1. Nah, I just saw someone say so on another forum and tried it out. It worked, but you had to do it with every page. (My mobile wikipedia app worked just fine.)

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