The Stop Online Piracy Act, now infamously referred to as the E-Parasites Act, is facing a strong public reaction, and most of it has been negative. Now, through the use of The White House's own public petitions website,
The petition calls for the Obama administration to veto the proposed copyright bill, as it would harm "free speech", and be a serious "invasion of privacy".
Since Oct 31, when the petition was first posted, 8,153 have already signed up, and if 25,000 signatures can be reached by the end of November, then as the website promises, the petition will get a serious look by the Obama administration, an administration that has been incredibly friendly to copyright special interests so far.
The Stop Online Piracy Act proposes several changes to existing copyright laws, and would grant the government the power to silence websites the copyright industries deem "inappropriate". Even foreign websites are not exempt, as the bill grants the government the power to file injunctions against websites on behalf of the powerful MPAA and RIAA lobby groups.
You can sign the petition by going to this webpage, and by signing up to a Whitehouse.gov account.
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