![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
If you're not aware of the blackout, either it's no longer Wednesday the 18th, or else you haven't opened many sites today.
A little research shows that both my senators have already come out in opposition to the bills (I knew one had, you don't get much more opposed than publicly promising to filibuster if it comes to the floor!). Because of this, I contacted them via their Twitter accounts to thank them for that opposition. (I would not count on Twitter mentions to come to their attention OR carry enough information if I were trying to persuade them to oppose, but to say 'thank you for opposing this' I think they work well enough.)
My representative's position is unknown, as far as I have been able to find (using the various information sites for these bills, and a quick scan of his own site). I went to his web site contact and I sent him an email. I may call to reinforce it, but I'm not sure if I'll have the time/energy for that. I'm wary of phones when there might be a screaming baby.
I am proud of my analogy in the email, however. I was going to compare it to swatting a fly with a Cadillac but that implies piracy is no more harmful than a fly...besides, how destructive is swatting a fly with a Cadillac anyway? It's overkill, but not necessarily detrimental to what's around it. It didn't make the point I wanted it to make, in the way that I wanted to make it, at all.
...I rather liked the modified analogy I came up with. :P
Text of the letter:
A little research shows that both my senators have already come out in opposition to the bills (I knew one had, you don't get much more opposed than publicly promising to filibuster if it comes to the floor!). Because of this, I contacted them via their Twitter accounts to thank them for that opposition. (I would not count on Twitter mentions to come to their attention OR carry enough information if I were trying to persuade them to oppose, but to say 'thank you for opposing this' I think they work well enough.)
My representative's position is unknown, as far as I have been able to find (using the various information sites for these bills, and a quick scan of his own site). I went to his web site contact and I sent him an email. I may call to reinforce it, but I'm not sure if I'll have the time/energy for that. I'm wary of phones when there might be a screaming baby.
I am proud of my analogy in the email, however. I was going to compare it to swatting a fly with a Cadillac but that implies piracy is no more harmful than a fly...besides, how destructive is swatting a fly with a Cadillac anyway? It's overkill, but not necessarily detrimental to what's around it. It didn't make the point I wanted it to make, in the way that I wanted to make it, at all.
...I rather liked the modified analogy I came up with. :P
Text of the letter:
Representative Schrader,
I haven't heard a position from you regarding PIPA and SOPA yet; perhaps I haven't found the right sites to get that information.
If either bill passes, I worry those sites might not exist at all, since an over-broad take-down (or even an unsubstantiated, unjustified one, perhaps) could remove a host that handles multiple unrelated sites.
In any case, these bills are inappropriate and need to be opposed, please; piracy is a real problem, yes, and needs to be addressed, but with less collateral damage.
This is like taking out a couple hornets' nests with a nuclear missile. Most of us agree the hornets are a problem, but their neighbors would prefer not to be affected by the strike and the rest of us by the fallout - to say nothing of what happens if someone launches the missile at what looks like, but isn't, a hornets' nest.
Please, join the other senators and representatives who stand in opposition to these bills.
Sincerely,
[full name]
