8 Million People Looked Up Their Elected Officials' Contact Info During Wikipedia Blackout
from the 4.5-million-signed-google-petition dept
Think the blackouts were just a "publicity stunt" that didn't wake up the American people to a serious problem with the legislative process? Wikipedia has now revealed that an astounding eight million people used its tool to look up their elected officials' contact info. It's not yet clear how many actually called, but some information on calls is starting to come out, and it sure sounds like a lot of people called. We heard from multiple Senate staffers that the phones -- both in DC and back home in the district offices -- were ringing non-stop with complaints about the bill. Our own calling widget, care of Engine Advocacy, got a tremendous amount of usage -- including over 2,000 phone calls per minute at peak calling times. Meanwhile, Google's online petition scored 4.5 million signatures... and that's the number that was reported earlier in the day. I'm sure it was higher by the end of the day. Anyone think this isn't a mainstream issue yet? More importantly, can anyone explain why various Senators still want to move forward with this bill?
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Filed Under: blackouts, democracy, pipa, protect ip, protests, sopa
Companies: google, wikipedia
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Such a big story it merited 2 minutes on the news!
Is the mainstream media biased? You betchya! Not sure I'd blame the corporate bias (#2) or the conflict bias (#3) and definitely not the liberal bias (#4). Nope, I'm going to go with the bias towards laziness, as it appeared the news segment producer couldn't bother spending the couple hours it would have taken to learn about the issue before ill informing millions.
I wouldn't expect anything more.
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Re: Such a big story it merited 2 minutes on the news!
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Re: Such a big story it merited 2 minutes on the news!
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Re: Such a big story it merited 2 minutes on the news!
They must win my award for the worst reporting on this subject ever done that barely scratched the surface of what happened. The wonders of biased reporting.
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Re: Re: Such a big story it merited 2 minutes on the news!
I am glad they didn't. Just gives me fuel for the fire in trying to alert people to the corruption that has a strangle hold on our elected officials. When I explain SOPA to ppl their reaction has almost always been, well why haven't I heard about it on the news. Because our "news" has become News Entertainment, and is part of the problem.
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Re: Such a big story it merited 2 minutes on the news!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SDqJTUpH6pI
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Re: Such a big story it merited 2 minutes on the news!
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The difference a day makes
http://projects.propublica.org/sopa/
Congressional aides and the media lobbyists were taken by surprise to:
In the Tea Party era of grassroots muscle, though, the old school was taken to school, Congressional aides and media lobbyists agree.
“The problem for the content industry is they just don’t know how to mobilize people,” said John P. Feehery, a former Republican leadership aide and executive at the motion picture lobby. “They have a small group of content makers, a few unions, whereas the Internet word, the social media world especially, has a tremendous reach."
http://www.recordonline.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20120118/NEWS/120119732
The war is far from over, but today's battle is won.
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Re: The difference a day makes
There inability to mobilize people might have something to do with the fact they keep suing them, calling them criminals, limiting their options, cheating the artists, and trying to ram bad legislation down their throats.
Just saying.
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Re: The difference a day makes
Interestingly, on average, it looks like both SOPA Supporters and Opponents received about the same amount of money from Internet groups.
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Why stop
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Re: Why stop
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Re: Re: Why stop
*head desk*
Having one day of blackouts was enough to stir even the most disconnected people....
There is only one group left that would really get the word out. The porn people.
Too bad most of them are probably pro-SOPA....
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So I came up with a phrase earlier...
Their plans go boom
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Hopefully may not work
Given the seeming success of this activism, I don't see how it would be so hard to pull that off again (while trying to mete out punishment for those who voted for sneaking it through).
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Re: Re: Hopefully may not work
They know they can't stop online infringement,
http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/01/post-sopa-the-path-forward-for-addr essing-piracy.ars
"But SOPA was unlikely to succeed at this either. And, as the content industries have told me in person for years, their antipiracy efforts aren't about stopping piracy; they're about curbing its excesses so legal efforts can flourish."
Does that not expose Chris Dodd for being the pathetic tool we already know he is?
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Because the protest to it was based on lies? That'd be my guess.
These bills aren't going to disappear, as they'll give some politicians the chance to vote against them and use it as leverage in their upcoming elections.
But make no mistake, these congressfolk aren't anti-copyright, they are aware the internet is being abused to accomplish rampant copyright infringement with impunity, and that they are going to have to deal with it very soon.
I think it's great that piracy is now a national issue. Thrilled, actually.
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This is America, damn it!
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Opposing SOPA != supporting piracy, dumbass.
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You mean people like John McCain, who voted for harsher copyright punishments, and then infrenged?
You mean people like Viacom, who got employees to upload videos to Youtube to use as evidence against them?
Moron.
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"Because the protest to it was based on lies?"
I don't even know where to begin. The entire push for these laws was based on misinformation and lies.
"These bills aren't going to disappear"
Tell us something we don't know, but consider today a test run of what could possibly be to come. I read about 10,000 sites blacked out today. Next time could be doubled or tripled.
"But make no mistake, these congressfolk aren't anti-copyright"
Many of today's protesters were pro-copyright too. Copyright has it's place, but needs to be balanced once again.
"I think it's great that piracy is now a national issue. Thrilled, actually."
Me too. Makes it easier to put the spotlight on the ANTI-PIRACY abuses and congressional corruption that has been taking place for far too long.
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Khan Academy: SOPA and PIPA
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Khan Academy: SOPA and PIPA
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Pssst... you might have missed it in your shill handbook, but you people don't call it copyright infringement, you call it theft.
Because you neglected to enforce that mis-stereotype, your post is almost reasonable, except where you call half of the internet liars.
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Senatorial phone lines overloaded
I then tried to call the offices of my two Senators, both of whom are co-sponsors. The first one's phone line was busy for most of the day. The second one's phone line flipped immediately to voice mail. That system was full and no longer accepting messages. I never did get through to the senators by voice.
All in all, it sounds today was a good day...
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I recieved this in a email
Approaching Monday's crucial Senate vote there are now 35 Senators publicly opposing PIPA. Last week there were 5. And it just takes just 41 solid "no" votes to permanently stall PIPA (and SOPA) in the Senate. What seemed like miles away a few weeks ago is now within reach.
But don't trust predictions. The forces behind SOPA & PIPA (mostly movie companies) can make small changes to these bills until they know they have the votes to pass. Members of Congress know SOPA & PIPA are unpopular, but they don't understand why--so they're easily duped by superficial changes. The Senate returns next week, and the next few days are critical. Here are two things to think about:
1. Plan on calling your Senator every day next week. Pick up the phone each morning and call your Senators' offices, until they vote "no" on cloture. If your site participated today, consider running a "Call the Senate" link all next week.
2. Tomorrow, drop in at your Senators' district offices. We don't have a cool map widget to show you the offices nearest you (we're too exhausted! any takers?). So do it the old fashioned way: use Google, or the phonebook to find the address, and just walk in, say you oppose PIPA, and urge the Senator to vote "no" on cloture. These drop-in visits make our spectacular online protests more tangible and credible.
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Sui Juris Law - The Self Governing
"All laws which are repugnant to the Constitution are null and void. " Marbury vs Madison, 5 US (2 Cranch) 137, 174, 176, (1803) "Where rights secured by the Constitution are involved, there can be no rule making or legislation which would abrogate them." Miranda vs Arizona, 384 US 436 p. 491. "An unconstitutional act is not law; it confers no right; it imposes no duties; affords no protection; it creates no office; it is in legal contemplation, as inoperative as though it had never been passed." Norton vs Shelby County118 US 425 p.442 "The general rule is that an unconstitutional statute, though having the form and the name of law, is in reality no law, but is wholly void, and ineffective for any purpose; since unconstitutionality dates from the time of its enactment, and not merely from the date of the decision so branding it. No one is bound to obey an unconstitutional law and no courts are bound to enforce it." 16th American Jurisprudence 2d, Section 177, late 2nd, Section 256"
EVERY LEGISLATION OR ACT MADE AND ENFORCED IN VIOLATION OF THE UNITED STATES CONSTITUTION IS A CRIMINAL ACT.
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SOPA/PIPA will vanish, but mark my words. Three, six months from now, a little innocent act with a stupid/clever acronym, maybe P.R.O.T.E.C.T.T.H.E.C.H.I.L.D.R.E.N.A.N.D.S.A.V.E.A.M.E.R.I.C.A Act will arise from a senator's office, and this will start all over again.
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For the children stop using RAP phrases (redundant acronym phrase phrases)!
This innocent act will be brought to bear when the senator goes to an ATM machine and enters their PIN number to view cash donations on the LCD display (LED diodes are still too new and expensive to be prevalent on ATM machines).
As soon as the ASDL line transmits the data and the GUI interface displays the transaction you'll find it being broadcast on CNN news network.
Please RSVP for the P.R.O.T.E.C.T.T.H.E.C.H.I.L.D.R.E.N.A.N.D.S.A.V.E.A.M.E.R.I.C.A Act fundraiser.
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Helping Children Through Research And Development
which stands for
Hi, Everyone. Let's Pitch In 'N' Get Cracking Here In Louisiana Doing Right, Eh? Now Then. Hateful Rich Overbearing Ugly Guys Hurt Royally Every-time Someone Eats A Radish, Carrot, Hors d'oeuvre, And Never Does Dishes. Eventually, Victor Eats Lunch Over Peoria Mit Ein Neuesberger Tod.
(From MST3K #812)
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Politics
Well it has been reported that SOPA and PIPA are now official election topics. They will be asking voters their view and who knows if these parties will take sides.
You may care to note that the large majority of the Senators who switched sides yesterday were Republicans. Only a few Democrats did.
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Re: Politics
The Democratic Senators see through this BS.
The Republicans threw their finger in the wind because this is an election year.
Whatever. The only thing this protest did was to really piss off creators/content producers, and reality check them into an awareness of how a greedy tech industry will go to the gutter to protect their parasitic business model.
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Re: Re: Politics
Oh right they are afraid of the number of pirates that actually exist and that is every single human being on the planet according to the literal definition of what a pirate is and that is anyone who ever took anything without paying for it and that could be a photograph, a quote, a piece of video anything.
Thank God this nonsense can never ever be enforced or it would be the end of the human race.
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Re: Re: Re: Politics
"Piracy is an act of robbery or criminal violence at sea. The term can include acts committed on land, in the air, or in other major bodies of water or on a shore. It does not normally include crimes committed against persons traveling on the same vessel as the perpetrator (e.g. one passenger stealing from others on the same vessel). The term has been used to refer to raids across land borders by non-state agents."
Hey,look! Wiki's back up:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Piracy
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As for their claims of massive losses, don't believe it. Their "piracy" figures are grossly overstated, they use fuzzy math to inflate the number of alleged infringements and they count each and every song downloaded as an entire album lost. Fuzzy logic at its finest. And they whine about millions of jobs and $billions being lost on account of piracy. I seriously doubt if the actual loss is more than .01% of what they're claiming. If PIPA/SOPA becomes law and is enforced, it has the potential to destroy the Internet as we know it today, and think of the millions of jobs and $$$billions of dollars that will be lost if that happens. This is burning your barn down with all your livestock in it to get rid of a few rats.
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Sorry, but I don't consider a couple dozen kids "content creators/producers".
All of the "content creators/producers" that I know (and yes, every single one of them, including me and both of my brothers - one of whom works for hollywood) is against SOPA.
MPAA shills are not 'content creators/producers', they're leeches on people who really create or produce "content".
Take your BS somewhere else, because nobody here is buying it.
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Re: Re: Politics
The irony is strong with this one.
And is it really the "creators/content producers" who are pissed off? Or was more along the lines of the legacy gatekeepers for the creators/content producers who are pissed off?
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Re: Re: Politics
And who is parasitic? Didn't like, every movie ever made come from a story someone else wrote? Possibly even hundreds of years before movies were ever dreamed of?
If you mean people used democracy for what they want instead of what some corporation wants, then yes, it was a reality check.
Get used it it.
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+1 Funny... You are making a joke, right?
Let me bring it back to reality for you...
Awesome! The main thing this protest did was to really piss off the American public/content consumers into an awareness of how greedy and entitled the content industry is will go to their wallets to pass draconian and unjustifiable legislation to protect their out of date and parasitic business model!
FTFY :D
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A good start?
Although this blackout may have raised awareness, the total percentage of the 312M that contacted is about 2.5%.
Maybe a longer protest is needed to raise awareness further, also out of the users of the tool, how many were duplicate users, how many were under voting age, how many were already aware of the bill?
I'm not trying to say that the blackout was unsuccessful, just that perhaps there's more successful ways of raising awareness, or perhaps the protest wasn't big enough?
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Re: A good start?
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Wisconsin is taking the disgust in their government to levels never before seen. Sure wish other states would do the same, starting with Texas and Lamar Smith!!!
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swap 6% for just shy of 5% as election year turn outs are >50% but
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Re: A good start?
Additionally and unfortunately there is a lot of apathy regarding this issue. Wikipedia may have taken a controversial approach to educating people about SOPA/PIPA but for some people, unless you poke them with a stick, they aren't going to wake up and do what they should.
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So this is good enough for now. Next time, we'll be ready.
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How many legal voters?
No point in including children is there?
If you do, how many of them are taught to share?
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In the end David always beats Goliath. Where were you last year during the Arab Spring?
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"Publicity stunt'" huh?
"Failed to enlist big sites'" huh?
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united we stand
http://hydro-carbons.blogspot.com/2012/01/no-mas-sopa-movement-and-blackout-list.html
Oppo nents of controversial federal anti-piracy legislation known as SOPA seem to be picking up steam. Supporters of the legislation in both houses of Congress appear to have backed off, the Obama administration has expressed concerns with the legislation, and an Internet blackout slated for Wednesday is picking up supporters.
A House subcommittee was slated to prepare the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, for a vote later this month; the Senate had planned a vote on the companion bill, PIPA (The Protect IP Act,) even sooner. Now, it appears both votes will be delayed.
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Give It A Week To Sink In.
Not all of the Senators have changed sides overnight. So what. Even when a mayor, or a congress-critter, or a football coach gets caught diddling little boys, there is generally a week or so of rising publicity before the man resigns in disgrace. It takes that long for someone to grasp that the principles of a lifetime are no longer valid.
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Re: Give It A Week To Sink In.
Right now, a bill to revert copyright terms back those of the 1790 act, is a bill that will be referred to the comedy committe, and die there.
A bill to simply repeal the Sonny Bono Copyright Term Extension Act (CTEA) might have some chance of making it to a floor vote. For one, repealing CTEA wouldn't mean a withdrawal from Berne.
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Re: Re: Give It A Week To Sink In.
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Re: Give It A Week To Sink In.
How many of these 8 million people are registered voters ?
Why are US voters so apathetic ?
How many of the 8 Million, will base there vote on ONE issue only ?
It really does appear that few care, that those that do care, probably do not care enough to vote, or even enroll to vote on this issue.
again, 8 million is a very small number, you have over 3 times that amount of people in jail !!
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Re: Re: Give It A Week To Sink In.
Are you not from the USA, darryl?
This is rather important information that can be used later on, good fellows.
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can anyone explain why various Senators still want to move forward with this bill?
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MPAA could help here
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What Blackout?
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virtually NO effect and no interest outside the US or inside !!!
no.. and as predicted, when there is money involved, that will trump a real protest anytime, that is why google, (and most others) did not shut down (really) as stated.
The fact is only in the US does this seem to be an issue, and by the SMALL number of people complaining it is not really an issue in the US either.
how many of those 8 million were repeats from one person and how many were from different people ?
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Re: virtually NO effect and no interest outside the US or inside !!!
How many of the shills here are repeats from one darryl?
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Re: Re: virtually NO effect and no interest outside the US or inside !!!
http://torrentfreak.com/while-house-petitioned-to-investigate-mpaa-bribery-120122/
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Here lies the truth about SOPA/PIPA that even TechDirt has yet to report: what MPAA, RIAA, and Hollywood execs do not want you to see.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NzS5rSvZXe8
The truth behind why these big companies responsible for SOPA and PIPA are also responsible for piracy itself is far more insidious than even their outmoded business model.
Can you say, do as I say so I can crush you under heel?
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