NY Tech Entrepreneurs: Stop the SOPA and PIPA Anti-Piracy BillsOnline and in-person, groups protest controversial legislation.
ByJason Fell•
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
The online tech community continues to voice its opposition in dramatic fashion to a pair of bills that aim to combat online piracy by foreign websites. In New York City,technologyentrepreneurs and enthusiasts staged their own demonstration, gathering in front of the offices of Democratic New York senators Charles "Chuck" Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand.
The event was organized by a group calledNY Tech Meetup, which claims to have more than 20,000 members.
"These bills clamp down on entrepreneurship," Meetup founderScott Heifermantells Entrepreneur.com. "They give power to government and big media companies to muck with the open Internet. The Internet isn't all about big media. It's about people."
Related:Anti-Piracy Bill Could Do More Harm Than Good for Small Companies
The two bills -- the House'sStop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)and the Senate'sPROTECT IP Act (PIPA)-- aim to punish "rogue" websites that publish or sell pirated content. The SOPA bill would allow copyright holders to obtain court orders to disallow other companies from doing business with the sites that are alleged to be in violation of a copyright.
While the bills are supported by groups including Motion Picture Association of America, online companies such as Facebook and AOL have countered that the bills can negatively affect the flow of information online and stifle innovation among internet entrepreneurs.
一些主要的网站也展示了他们opposition to the bills. Among them, search giant Google blacked out its logo online. Wikipedia shut down its site for 24 hours in protest and Reddit followed suit by going dark for 12 hours.
Last weekend, the White House issued a statement officially opposing the bills as the are currently written. It said, however, it will continue to work with Congress on "bipartisan" legislation to fight online piracy.
Related:White House Opposes Online Piracy Bills -- For Now
NY Tech Meetup organizers urged attendees to contact their local legislators and voice their opposition. Moreover, companies including Google are asking visitors to signan online petitionagainst the SOPA and PIPA bills.
Of the demonstration in New York, Heiferman says organizing it was "a natural." "This is the NY tech community and we do what communities do: Stand up when things need to be stood up for," he says.
Check out ourFacebook page for more imagesfrom the NY Tech Meetup event.
