Sailors and the Internet

When my son first joined the Navy, we communicated through postal mail and phone calls throughout bootcamp, A-school and his first cruise. Over time, we have come to rely on the near-instant communication through email and more recently, I could see photos of his ship and shipmates while they were on deployment - thanks to Facebook.

I like the Internet for many other reasons, so when I learned about SOPA and PIPA, I knew I had to take action.

Tonight, I signed another online petition, this one is on Google and addresses two bills before Congress. 

Google, Wikipedia and other sites, as well as individuals have chosen to black out their sites for a day. Fight for the Future is the largest online protest in the history of the Internet.

According to Google:

Millions of Americans oppose SOPA and PIPA because these bills would censor the Internet and slow economic growth in the U.S.

Two bills before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business. Millions of Internet users and entrepreneurs already oppose SOPA and PIPA.

The Senate will begin voting on January 24th. Please let them know how you feel. Sign this petition urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late.

I copied this and sent it to my elected officials:

Fighting online piracy is important. The most effective way to shut down pirate websites is through targeted legislation that cuts off their funding. There’s no need to make American social networks, blogs and search engines censor the Internet or undermine the existing laws that have enabled the Web to thrive, creating millions of U.S. jobs.

Too much is at stake – please vote NO on PIPA and SOPA

Here is where I found the email addresses for my representatives and senators.