On the recordJanuary 18, 2012
Today many Web sites across the Internet, from Reddit to Wikipedia, have blacked out their sites in protest of a bill before this body, the Stop Online Piracy Act, and its accompanying bill in the Senate, the PIPA Act. These bills threaten free discourse, free speech, and the very infrastructure of the Internet, itself. The Internet has brought this country and the world so much, not only in terms of the millions of jobs and economic productivity of American citizens, but far-reaching changes in terms of the Arab Spring and the Voice of Freedom desires across the world. SOPA and PIPA directly threaten the very Internet that has brought humanity great prosperity and greater peace. I call upon my colleagues to join in solidarity with Internet users across the world in making sure that we tackle online piracy in a way that doesn't throw out the baby with the bathwater. ____________________
