Wow, folks.
Talk about momentum: What a week! On Tuesday, P Street, the Progressive Change Campaign Committee's sister organization that does Capitol Hill outreach, hosted a landmark online briefing about Internet Censorship with the founders of reddit, craigslist, and Scribd -- CBS News, The Guardian, The Huffington Post, and other major media outlets covered the monumentally successful event.
Then, on Wednesday, we helped our members join the Internet blackout: as a result over 468 websites were able to join websites like Wikipedia, Craigslist, and BoldProgressives.org in the global protest blackout. These are 468 sites of small businesses, innovators, and web programers.
With help from Daily Kos readers like you, we made over 40,000 calls (and still counting) to congressional offices. Over 230,000 people have signed the Progressive Change Campaign Committee (PCCC) petition co-sponsored by Craigslist and Reddit.
To top it all off, Rachel Maddow praised our successful activism (along with our partners at Craigslist) on her show Wednesday night.
Click here to watch the Maddow clip -- and join over 230,000 others on the petition to save the Internet!
(Or click here to call your member of Congress if you've already signed!)
So far, Ars Technica reports that 19 Senators have changed their tune by pulling their support of PIPA and announcing their opposition to this bill that would censor the Internet and stifle online innovation -- in response to Wednesday's huge public pressure. And this morning, Senator Reid announced that he would postpone the vote on PIPA!
We posted on Tuesday about the P Street landmark online briefing: "Internet Censorship and the Attack on Tech Innovators: A Discussion of SOPA with founders of Craigslist, Reddit, and Scribd". We're updating you now to let you know that the event was a remarkable success! The PCCC hand delivered 100,000 petition signatures to over 200 congressional staffers who attended the Internet freedom briefing on Tuesday -- and PCCC co-founder Adam Green presented Rep. Darrell Issa with a generous stack of signatures personally, with over 2,000 folks watching online.
Check out the International Business Times coverage of the PCCC briefing:
"On the webcast, Veoh founder Dmitry Shapiro, an immigrant from the former Soviet Union, recounted how his streaming content media site was effectively ruined by litigation brought by Universal Music Group for alleged copyright infringement. Investors, including former Walt Disney CEO Michael Eisner, were sued as individuals.
Shapiro said the lawsuits "choked the company to death" and ultimately forced its sale. He warned that either SOPA or PIPA would have the same effect on other Internet startups.
Still more harmful would be a system that would permit copyright holders alleging infringement to seek a U.S. magistrate's permission to "get an order to shut down a whole business" without a court hearing, said Jayme White, senior staff director for the Senate Finance Committee on International Trade.
Wyden is chairman of that subcommittee.
Other Internet pioneers, including Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian and Jared Friedman of Scribd, all condemned SOPA and said it is a threat to free speech and communications.
The Huffington Post gave the PCCC major props in their coverage as well:
"The Progressive Campaign Change Committee held a conference call on Tuesday in which co-founder Adam Green emphasized that his organization -- a major force in liberal political fundraising -- would "make sure people are held accountable for any votes to end the Internet as we know it, Republican and Democrat." Although the conference call was sponsored by longtime liberals, it included a surprise visit from House Oversight Committee Chair Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), a conservative Republican who has been a vocal SOPA opponent based on the bill's potential to harm the Internet and impede free speech."
Feel like you missed out on a major part of Internet history? Don't worry, you can still check out the Internet freedom briefing at SaveTheInternetEvent.com!
We made monumental progress this week, but our fight isn't over yet. The Senate still may vote on this bill, and supporters in the House are threatening to move forward as well. But the momentum's on our side. We need to keep the pressure on so that neither SOPA or PIPA make it to a vote.
Now that the PCCC/reddit/craigslist petition has grown to over 230,000, we're planning another round of deliveries.
Click here to add your name and help us reach 250,000 before our next petition delivery.
(If you've already signed, click here to step it up to the next level: call your Representative and Senators to ask them to oppose these bills that would destroy the Internet as we know it!)
UPDATE:
Adam Green, co-founder of the PCCC, reacts to news that Senate Leader Harry Reid has decided to postpone a vote on the Protect I.P. Act(PIPA):
"This shows, once again, that people power works. Any Democrat or Republican who tries to resurrect this bill will be setting themselves up to face massive accountability at the hands of voters for trying to kill the Internet as we know it."
We're now up to over 43,000 calls to Congress by PCCC members and Craigslist users!
Keep up the momentum and hold your reps accountable!