Several cats posted in protest on Wednesday. Let me tell you why.
At this point a lovely author who wrote books about a race called the Cheysuli has never complained that I was named after her books. If she did, I’d have the legal right to prove that this is my name and perhaps negotiate that I was only know as “Chey” rather than use my full name online. Under SOPA, any one of her fans could complain that I was infringing copyright and my site could be pulled down. It would be up to me to spend the money to prove my innocence. Not a very American thing is it? But that’s what SOPA would do.
Further, if our friends across the Pond were accused of doing the same thing, if their websites were hosted in the United States the same thing would happen to them. They are not residents of the country. They would be breaking no laws in their own country. They would continue to live in their country but the United States would be telling them what they could and could not do. Americans complained about the British and taxation without representation. This would be censorship without representation or recourse.
Sparkle has some great links. She was one of the cats who went dark in protest. So did Max and the Hotties. Other cats spoke out in protest about why this was important. Now for those families who find all this political stuff boring, let me just nail the lid on my coffin if my legislators actually pass SOPA (I can get in trouble just for linking to these sites because they use material that could be considered copyrighted, although they give credit where credit is due) and give you this great Youtube Link about what could happen. And if you need a visual, this one is important.
Imagine an Internet with no Chey!
Excellent post about a very serious matter. Thank you, Chey. And sometimes, even though we don’t like to deal with things political, we must. If we don’t protect our rights, we will lose them.
Thanks for a great post on SOPA, Chey! This is an issue that strikes home for both my human and me, and I’m so glad that so many bloggers and websites across the internet took action! Lots of humans emailed and called their congresspeople, and I think things are starting to turn around… but the work isn’t done yet!
Go, Chey! Raise your paws in protest. Keep the momentum going. An internet “without Chey” … impossible to fathom. Life would never be the same again, the sun would not shine. As Elvis said, “we want you, we need you, we love you”.
We signed the international petition yesterday (Sparkle had a link to it on her blog).
Rather scary stuff.
We signed the petition and contacted our Congressmen.
The Florida Furkids
Spay and neuter! Those politicians shouldn’t be reproducing!
We can’t imagine an Internet without Chey! SOPA is NOT GOOD!
Luf, Us
Hopefully the blackout was a success! Let’s not let this go and kep on making sur ethe internet is free. Good post.
No, we can not imagine an internet without Chey!
We posted but didn’t go dark. Since we don’t post every day, who’d have known if we did? 🙂
It is quite clear that this legislation is nothing short of awful, and we are keeping all paws crossed that it will be relegated to the trash heap where it clearly belongs.
These are all very valid points. I signed the petition and saw that Wikipedia, Google, and even Facebook are all on board too… Where would we be with an internet without any of our favorite furry friends?! How terrible! Keep up the support 🙂
LizAnn?
Excellent post, Chey! We can’t imagine the innernets without you! And we think all the protesting and striking yesterday did much to bring awareness about how bad SOPA is. Many of the senators and congresspeoples that were supporting it, have changed their mind!
Mom did a post about this several weeks ago when we first heard about it, with all the stuff going on with Abby she didn’t join in the protest, but has been lobbying her representatives (who don’t support SOPA) and following with great interest the path this bill is taking in Congress.
purrs
>^,,^<
?Abby?Boo?Ping?Jinx?Grace?
Internet without you would be awful! We signed the international petition.
Well done Chey! We didn’t go dark but we did post the purr-fect gif from theoatmeal.com explaining SOPA.
Yup, a lot of our friends whet dark yesterday and
we were happy!!! We do not like SPOA either!!
WE purr very hard that it does not pass now or ever!!!
Kudos to you and those that supported the “dark” movement 🙂
Purrs Tillie and Georgia,
Tiger,Treasure and JJ
I can’t imagine a world without Chey! Thanks for the great post.
Excellent post. We wrote our congressman yesterday and he’s already responded to us. We hope they get the message!