Imagine the government picking which websites you can visit. It sounds like a story out of China, or Iran. But if we don't do something fast, this could soon be the US.
Under pressure from Hollywood, the Senate is racing to pass a new bill creating an Internet blacklist -- instead of having to go to court and get illegal sites shut down, the Attorney General could bypass due process and just censor the websites he doesn't like.
The first vote on this bill is expected this week! Can you sign our urgent petition opposing it? Click here.
The bill is so broad that it even lets the government block sites that haven't done anything illegal. When copyright holders tried to shut down YouTube, they lost in court. But if this bill passes, they could get YouTube blocked just because other people use it to break the law.
Internet experts like Tim Berners-Lee, the creator of the Web, are aghast at this bill. But Hollywood has bombarded the Capitol with calls and drowned them all out. The bill is expected to pass out of committee this week unless there's public opposition.
We need you to speak out. Click here to add your name.
We'll be updating Senate offices with the number of signers all week, so please rec this diary so others hear about this. The more people who sign on, the better our chances of stopping this thing.