SUMMARY: DOPA Bill - already passed by House, moving towards a Senate vote - would ban a very wide swath of "social networking" sites such as MySpace, the DailyKos, Blogger, on and on from libraries and schools. Bill now in Senate Commerce Committee. See below for list of Senate commerce committee members.
What is DOPA ? - See story by ePluribus Media and also by CNET :
Congress Targets Social Network Sites.
writes Tish Grier:
...the legislation so broadly defines social networking sites as to include everything from Slashdot to Amazon.com to any site that allows us to post profiles (including personal information) as well as facilitate "communication among users" in the form of messages, comments, chats, etc.
Therefore, even political sites, sites defending free speech, freedom of religion, etc.--any site that would allow public profiles in order to engage in civic discourse--would be inaccessible from a school or public library anywhere in the U.S.
he only other country that so broadly blocks access to "offensive" websites is China ) from "Duck and Cover!"--DOPA Passes House, CNN Redefines Irony
The story on DOPA has been almost totally ignored by mainstream media even though the bill will effect 10's of millions of Americans.
Will DOPA pass the US Senate ? Well, DOPA passed the House by a vote of 410-15
In short, the DOPA act would mandate federal censorship of any website that allows members to have identities. That means websites frequented by 10's of millions of Americans. Will it stop there ? Unlikely. This isn't about "online predators" : it's about censorship and control of the Internet
Let's be clear about it : DOPA, the "Delete Online Predators Act" should REALLY be titled the "Delete Online Participation Act" or even the "Delete Online Democracy ActDo you want to put a stop to the DOPA bill before it becomes law ? Here's a simple way you can help : any internet forum you might belong to is under threat. SO.... just do a post on ANY forum - on the political left, right, center, whatever - you might belong to. Your post title could be the same as mine with the name of your forum inserted. SO:
"Bill Would Ban ( name of your forum inserted here ) From Schools and Libraries"
So simple - how can you not help out ? Tens of millions of Americans will be MAD about the DOPA bill, and you can make that happen.
Strike a blow for freedom today
OK, on to my story....
My friend Tish Grier, editor of Corante Media Hub and I were talking about the representation of demons in the "Left Behind : Eternal Forces" video game based on the "Left Behind" series by Jerry Jenkins and Tim LaHaye. Now, that video game lets players take the role of commanding Christian paramilitary forces that must kill or convert everyone in NYC to Christianity... ( I've just heard the Daily Show covered the game on Monday and/or Tuesday - The Young Turks covered it last week )...
Anyway, Tish then segued to some real demons - demons of internet censorship - and told me that Congress has just passed a bill, the DOPA act, that BANS all social software websites that have "profiles" - the Daily Kos, MySpace, a bazillion other websites from all ideological quarters - from schools and libraries.
If the US Senate passes the bill, such sites will be blocked.... including the Daily Kos
That won't be the end of it - mark my words.
(what can we do ? - well, to start with think of all the HUGE forums waiting to be told of this bill : myspace, livejournal, blogger, yahoo, aol, on and on. endless really. Tens of millions of forum participants are targeted by the DOPA bill )
Will
DOPA pass the US Senate ? Well,
DOPA passed the House by a vote of 410-15.
See CNET's coverage of DOPA - you won't likely hear about DOPA from many other media sources although you WILL hear about it from ePluribus Media ( ePm story, from today, on DOPA )
SO :
A hugely trumped up threat provides a convenient pretext for the beginning of Internet censorship - will Democrats and principled Republicans find the backbone to just say no to the sleaze that is DOPA ? Let's put it to the US Senate while there's still time.
This community - and countless others - are at threat.
This story has been diaried already on dKos :
URGENT: House May Vote Today on DOPA ( by waitfortheword
And then they banned the blogs - the DOPA Hotlist ) by jrm78
Slashdot: House Passes Ban on Social Site Access ( by DocGonzo
ACTION ALERT: The War on The Internet ( by the choice is yours
ACTION NEEDED: To Stop Congress From Banning MySpace And Other Social Networks ( by KingOneEye
But so far the story has gained little traction.
Here's the kicker : as Tish Grier writes, the story has been blacklisted...
Yet as is noted in CNet's write-up of the vote, the legislation so broadly defines social networking sites as to include everything from Slashdot to Amazon.com to any site that allows us to post profiles (including personal information) as well as facilitate "communication among users" in the form of messages, comments, chats, etc.
Therefore, even political sites, sites defending free speech, freedom of religion, etc.--any site that would allow public profiles in order to engage in civic discourse--would be inaccessible from a school or public library anywhere in the U.S.
The only other country that so broadly blocks access to "offensive" websites is China. Although India, another democracy, recently banned/blocked some websites in the name of "national security."
Oddly, no mainstream media outlet--no paper of record covered the railroading of DOPA through the House.
Meanwhile, what did CNN choose to run the day DOPA was passed - CNN didn't cover the bill's successful passage through Congress. Instead, CNN put Jerry Jenkins on the air to discuss whether the "Apocalypse" is near. ( note: thanks to christine, says Tish Grier, for the CNN bit )
Oh boy. That's friggin news. Not. Again to Tish :
On the same day DOPA is passed, CNN broadcasts a discussion with Jerry Jenkins and Joel Rosenberg on whether or not we're living in apocalyptic times. Quoting Rosenberg: "What's interesting is, I was just at the Iraqi prime minister's speech today. You know, the Bible talks, in Jewish theology and Christian, that Iraq will be reborn as a country and be phenomenally peaceful and prosperous. And then a huge dictator, known as the Antichrist, will arrive. "
This BS needs more air time - The DOPA act will not be the last such censorship measure. Guaranteed. There will be other convenient pretexts and soon enough.... no more dKos.
Get it ?
Meanwhile, phillies has a strategy ( thread discussion comment :
I have already discussed the issue with my state and county ACLU Chapters. And I have had a positive discussion with Ben Masel, a progressive Democratic Party Member running for US Senate in his state primary.
We look forward to getting an injunction because the law cuts us off from prospective donors and voters, and we are both Federal candidates, he in 2006 and I in 2008.
Remember, the one section of BCRA that was voided by the Supreme Court (the Libertarian Party litigated this one) would have prevented people under 18 from donating their own money to political campaigns. They can now do so. DOPA keeps us and you from reaching the ones who use myspace and depend on public and school libraries for access.
The DOPA bill is now in the Senate Commmerce Committee.
Here are the committee members :
Republicans
Ted Stevens (Chair)
John McCain
Conrad Burns
Trent Lott
Kay Bailey Hutchison
Olympia J. Snowe
Gordon H. Smith
John Ensign
George Allen
John E. Sununu
Jim DeMint
David Vitter
Democrats
Daniel K. Inouye
(Ranking Member)
John D. Rockefeller
John F. Kerry
Byron L. Dorgan
Barbara Boxer
Bill Nelson
Maria Cantwell
Frank R. Lautenberg
E. Benjamin Nelson
Mark Pryor