Steve DeMaura
O-703-535-3110
C- 603-801-7620
I want to thank Senators Orrin Hatch and Mike Lee for doing the right thing and standing up for a free and open Internet by opposing the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). On January 18, every day Americans spoke out and Capitol Hill listened. Over ten million people signed a petition against both SOPA and PIPA—making it the most signed petition ever to be sent into Congress—and Congressional offices were inundated with calls and emails from constituents opposing the bills.
The legislation’s stated goal was to eliminate online piracy and copyright infringement, but this is a classic case of the proposed, Washington D.C. solution being worse than the problem.
No one should be allowed to steal American ideas or products, but these bills would ultimately impose onerous regulations on Internet search engines, service providers and pretty much any website that hosts user generated content. This means social media sites would face such liability for their users’ actions that it would be almost impossible for a company like Twitter, Facebook or YouTube to get off the ground.
Please thank Sens. Hatch and Lee for joining the millions of Americans who believe the Internet is too important—to our economy, free speech and America’s history of innovation—to cripple it with unnecessary and harmful regulations.
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