[IRP] PROTECT IP no longer coming for a vote!

Jillian C. York jillian
Mon Jan 23 23:32:57 EET 2012


While I'm glad to see this effort, I highly suggest using something
other than Google Groups.  Why not a proprietary email list of some sort?

-Jillian

On 1/23/12 12:40 PM, Jochai Ben-Avie wrote:
> 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
> <mailto: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
>
> -- 
>
> Jochai Ben-Avie
> Policy Director
> Access | AccessNow.org
> P: +1-347-806-9531 | S: jochaiben-avie | PGP: 0x9E6D805F
>
>
>
> On Fri, Jan 20, 2012 at 9:58 AM, Jochai Ben-Avie <jochai at accessnow.org
> <mailto:jochai at accessnow.org>> wrote:
>
>     Hi all,
>
>     Just wanted to let you know that... we did it! Everyone, we did
>     it! Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has postponed Tuesday's
>     cloture vote!
>
>     Press release from Reid's office is below, but wanted to let you
>     know that the Public Knowledge strategy call originally scheduled
>     for 1 PM EST (GMT-5) has been moved to 2 PM and we'll be
>     discussing next steps. Let me know if you want the number.
>
>     Cheers,
>     Jochai
>
>
>     http://democrats.senate.gov/2012/01/20/reid-statement-on-intellectual-property-bill/ 
>
>     Washington, D.C. ? Nevada Senator Harry Reid released the
>     following statement today on the Senate?s PROTECT I.P. Act:
>
>     ?In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday?s
>     vote on the PROTECT I.P. Act.
>
>     ?There is no reason that the legitimate issues raised by many
>     about this bill cannot be resolved. Counterfeiting and piracy cost
>     the American economy billions of dollars and thousands of jobs
>     each year, with the movie industry alone supporting over 2.2
>     million jobs. We must take action to stop these illegal practices.
>     We live in a country where people rightfully expect to be fairly
>     compensated for a day?s work, whether that person is a miner in
>     the high desert of Nevada, an independent band in New York City,
>     or a union worker on the back lots of a California movie studio.
>
>     ?I admire the work that Chairman Leahy has put into this bill. I
>     encourage him to continue engaging with all stakeholders to forge
>     a balance between protecting Americans? intellectual property, and
>     maintaining openness and innovation on the internet. We made good
>     progress through the discussions we?ve held in recent days, and I
>     am optimistic that we can reach a compromise in the coming weeks.?
>
>     On Thu, Jan 19, 2012 at 11:57 PM, Jochai Ben-Avie
>     <jochai at accessnow.org <mailto:jochai at accessnow.org>> wrote:
>
>         Hi Everyone,
>
>          
>
>         Just wanted to reach out and give a brief summary of what?s
>         been happening around PIPA and the letter you all signed on to.
>
>          
>
>         As I?m sure many of you know, yesterday, more than 115,000
>         websites blacked out to protest PIPA and SOPA. I spent a large
>         chunk of the day on the Hill and the phones in Senate offices
>         were ringing non-stop. Senator Kirk?s office, for example,
>         said that they had received 5,000 calls in less than 24 hours.
>         Some are saying that this is the most calls on /any/ issue
>         that the Senate has /ever/ received.
>
>          
>
>         On the offline side, the protest outside Sens. Schumer and
>         Gillibrand?s offices in NYC coordinated by NY Tech Meetup was
>         a rousing success, with about 2,500 people turning out?
>         perhaps the largest copyright protest ever. Most of the Access
>         Team was at the protest holding a giant 9x3 foot banner that
>         said ?Say No to PIPA and SOPA? and then called attention to
>         the letter from the human rights community, listing the URL,
>         and the names of all of the signatories. For more details and
>         photos, check out our blog post here
>         <https://www.accessnow.org/policy-activism/press-blog/pipa-sopa-internet-censorship>.
>
>
>          
>
>         On the letter:
>
>         A group of human rights organizations (including myself) were
>         on the Hill yesterday pushing the issues we raised in the
>         letter. My impression is that a lot of Senators (and
>         Representatives, but the focus is on the House at the moment
>         given the legislative calendar) are really starting to grok
>         that this legislation affects human rights and are pulling
>         their support or going from no position to opposition. The
>         fact that respected human rights like ours are speaking out is
>         making it easier for Senators to wean themselves off the
>         ?there are no first amendment concerns in this bill because it
>         only deals with piracy koolaid.? I?ll also add that the
>         section on information location tools in particular seemed to
>         have resonance and didn?t appear to be an issue that staffers
>         were familiar with.
>
>          
>
>         Today, with help from the Free Press Action Fund, one of our
>         co-signatories, we delivered the letter to the full Senate.
>         *It would be really great if everyone on this list could
>         follow up with any contacts that you have on the Hill to make
>         sure they see the letter.* The final version of the letter can
>         be found at https://www.accessnow.org/pipa-letter, if you want
>         to give a link to download the letter as a PDF use:
>         https://www.accessnow.org/page/-/docs/PIPA-LETTER-FROM-HUMAN-RIGHTS-COMMUNITY-FINAL.pdf.
>
>
>          
>
>         Access press release about the delivery of the letter can be
>         found here:
>         https://www.accessnow.org/policy-activism/press-blog/human-rights-organizations-rally-against-pipa-sopa.
>         *Please feel free to reuse this press release as you wish*
>         (and change up the quotes), key thing is just to get media
>         attention around the letter.
>
>          
>
>         While Tuesday?s vote is still a very real threat that we
>         should be pushing hard on, things seem to be going our way.
>         This afternoon, I?ve heard that Harry Reid, the Senate
>         Majority Leader won't be whipping votes for the vote on
>         Tuesday, and Mitch McConnell (the Senate Minority Leader) has
>         come out against. However, if this bill passes a cloture vote
>         on Tuesday, it?s about 95% down the road to becoming law, and
>         at that point we can only hope for amendments to make it better.
>
>          
>
>         Complicating things a little bit is that a Kyl-Leahy brokered
>         manager?s amendment may drop as early as tomorrow. For those
>         not so familiar with these names, Sen. Leahy is the Chairman
>         of the Senate Judiciary Committee and the lead sponsor of PIPA
>         and Sen. Kyl is the Republican Whip (the second highest
>         ranking Republican in the Senate). For those who don?t speak
>         American legislative lingo, a manager?s amendment allows the
>         lead sponsor of the legislation (in this case Senator Leahy)
>         to more or less unilaterally rewrite the provisions of the
>         bill, so PIPA post-manager?s amendment may look like a very
>         different piece of legislation. Leahy?s office will try and
>         sell this as a compromise, assuaging the concerns that
>         opponents and citizens of the internet have raised, but the
>         messaging around this should be ?you don?t compromise on human
>         rights.? Moreover, without seeing the actual language of the
>         manager's amendment (which the public probably won?t see until
>         Monday), we're just kind of taking Leahy's at his word that
>         problematic elements have been removed, and there are too many
>         BIG problems with this bill to extend him that kind of trust.
>         We need rhetoric like the internet is too important an enabler
>         of human rights to make hasty decisions and backrooms deals
>         about its governance.
>
>          
>
>         For those who really want to dive deep into the inside the
>         beltway machinations and movements around this bill, Public
>         Knowledge (one of the DC groups that?s been leading the charge
>         in the fight against PIPA/SOPA) is holding a strategy call
>         tomorrow at 1PM EST (GMT-5). Happy to pass on the number to
>         those interested.
>
>          
>
>         If you have any questions let me know. Thanks for all your
>         support!
>
>          
>
>         Cheers,
>
>         Jochai
>
>
>
>         -- 
>
>         Jochai Ben-Avie
>         Policy Director
>         Access | AccessNow.org
>         P: +1-347-806-9531 <tel:%2B1-347-806-9531> | S: jochaiben-avie
>         | PGP: 0x9E6D805F
>
>
>
>
>
>     -- 
>
>     Jochai Ben-Avie
>     Policy Director
>     Access | AccessNow.org
>     P: +1-347-806-9531 <tel:%2B1-347-806-9531> | S: jochaiben-avie |
>     PGP: 0x9E6D805F
>
>
>
>
>
>
>

-- 
*Jillian C. York*
Director for International Freedom of Expression
Electronic Frontier Foundation
+1 415 436 9333 ext. 118 | jillian at eff.org

Become a member of EFF! https://eff.org/join
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