12:30 PM EST: UPDATE! Internet freedom briefing happening LIVE now! Click here to join!
Today at 12:30pm Eastern, top tech innovators -- like Craig from Craigslist and reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian -- will gather in Congress for special online briefing on the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA), two bills which would wreck the Internet and allow censorship similar to China.
Click here to watch this important online briefing today.
Or join the conversation on Twitter by following and tweeting the hashtag #SaveTheInternet on Twitter.
It's not every day that progressives team up with Cato, but we are for this issue briefing. That's because killing Internet freedom is not an issue of right vs. left -- it's an issue of old vs. new. It's an issue of those who "get it" and those who have no clue.
During the event, you'll have a chance to ask the tech innovators and experts questions about the bad proposals in Congress -- and learn more about what you can do to defeat them!
Click here to RSVP to today's 12:30pm Eastern briefing.
Both of these bills, SOPA and PIPA, could have disastrous effects: censoring websites, hurting innovation, and eliminating jobs.
In December, we posted on Daily Kos about the viral petition the Progressive Change Campaign Committee organized with reddit -- over 116,000 people across the country signed the petition and thousands made phone calls. Thanks to a groundswell of vocal opposition to SOPA, a bill that could destroy the internet as we know it, the House Judiciary Committee cancelled their vote on SOPA.
But it will be brought up again soon -- and the Senate version of this bill is scheduled to be voted on January 24th!
That's why sites like, Wikipedia and reddit are planning a blackout day on Wednesday, January 18th.
The founders of these sites plus Google, Twitter, YouTube, and others all signed an open letter to Congress saying these bills would:
-Require web services, like the ones we helped found, to monitor what users link to, or upload. This would have a chilling effect on innovation;
-Deny website owners the right to due process of law;
-Give the U.S. Government the power to censor the web using techniques similar to those used by China, Malaysia and Iran; and
-Undermine security online by changing the basic structure of the Internet.
Craigslist.org even updated its homepage to provide an urgent action alert to "help put a stop to this madness before it's too late!" -- and linked to our PCCC/reddit petition.
Learn more about this issue today -- RSVP for the online briefing at 12:30pm Eastern right now!