[IRP] Google Groups Invitation: International Digital Rights Orgs

[Jochai Ben-Avie Google Groups]

 Jochai Ben-Avie jochai at accessnow.org has invited you to join the 
International Digital Rights Orgs group with this message:

Dear friends and colleagues,

Over the weekend I?ve been doing a lot of thinking about how we can maintain 
the momentum and power of all of the groups that have come together to fight 
SOPA & PIPA. The scale and scope of action taken around this legislation is 
unprecedented and shows the influence we can have when we work together. But 
what actually made this ad hoc coalition so effective and how can we harness 
this energy ahead of the next battle? Some thoughts:

1) Sharing information. I think in every political capitol, but particularly 
in Washington D.C., things happen very quickly and it can be hard for 
international groups to keep their finger on the pulse of what?s happening. By
pooling information, it is much easier to get a complete picture of what ?the 
other side? is planning, allowing us to identify leverage points and spend 
resources most effectively. 
2) Coordinated messaging. While there is certainly a balance to be struck 
between having a diversity of voices and a unified narrative when 
international human rights organizations speak out against a rights-abusing 
law, there is also value in knowing what other groups are going to be doing 
and saying. This enables us to avoid conflict and to position our 
organizations most strategically. 
3) Common action. There are times when a chorus of opposition can be 
influential (e.g., when each groups speaks out against a law individually), 
but when it comes to the international human rights community, I think we can 
also have a very powerful impact if we speak in one voice. We?ve heard that 
our letters about SOPA and PIPA were particularly effective in this regard. 
For example, we saw many of the talking points from our letter about SOPA in 
the White House?s statement on this legislation. 

This is not the last time that the international human rights community will 
have to come together to defeat a particular digital rights-abusing law. 
Indeed, SOPA and PIPA are likely to rear their ugly heads again sometime in 
the next few weeks. And, of course, let us not forget about ACTA. While the 
international human rights community can?t speak out about every law that 
threatens digital rights or the integrity of the internet, it?s important that
we share information about what?s happening around the world, taking 
coordinated action when it makes sense to do so. While we?re all on many lists,
 I don?t think there is an existing comprehensive listserv that achieves the 
goals outlined above. To help in coordinating sign-on in the previous three 
letters (around the eG8, SOPA, and PIPA), we?ve created a list of the contact 
people at a number of human rights organizations internationally (incidentally,
 the recipients of this email). To speak to the goals above and make it easier
for everyone on this thread to coordinate action of the international human 
rights community, we?ve created a google group for international digital 
rights organizations (digitalrightsorgs at googlegroups.com). We?ve initially 
sent invitations to orgs that signed one of the letters about the eG8, SOPA, 
or PIPA (about 100 in total), but if there are others who should be included, 
just let me know. 

Cheers,
Jochai

Policy Director
Access | AccessNow.org

Here is the group's description:

This is a group for international digital rights organizations. The primary 
purposes of this group are to: 1) share information, 2) coordinate messaging, 
3) plan common action around laws and initiatives (on the national or 
international level) that promote or threaten digital rights. 

---------------------- Google Groups Information ----------------------

You can accept this invitation by clicking the following URL:

http://groups.google.com/group/digitalrightsorgs/sub?s=zKh6hhQAAAB6Dwt9ljR_ekb_LVvP0aW_GcWeeikde-tltcA5Ac-Xlg&hl=en


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