Help us fight SOPA and PIPA

SOPA and PIPA, bills under consideration in the US House and Senate, pose a grave thread to the internet. In particular, the copyright provisions could stop VASSAL in its tracks. If you value your ability to play games that you own using VASSAL, and you’re a US citizen, please consider calling or writing your representative and senators and expressing your oppositoin to SOPA (House bill) and PIPA (Senate bill) before 24 January, when Congress is scheduled to vote.

The Electronic Fronteir Foundation has a handy web form which makes it easy to email your congresspeople:

blacklists.eff.org/

A quick note on contacting your representatives: there is a direct relationship in their minds between the effort a constituent puts into the contact and the weight the representative gives the opinion. An email through an automated template or, worse, a signature on an e-petition carries a LOT less weight in their minds than an actual letter or a quick visit to their offices. This is a long-standing practice that is based in the belief that someone who actually takes the time to write a letter and drop a stamp on it more likely to be an activist pain in their ass when it really counts during election time.

Right, wrong, behind the times or not, that’s the way of the world here in DC. One personalized, hand-signed letter will carry more weight than 1,000 “form letter/postcards” or 10,000 “e-signatures.” (And if you ever end up here in town on some sort of touristy kind of thing, don’t hesitate to stop by their office. It takes a few minutes and it’s one of those things that carries real weight.)

Joel, you should put something on the main website.

If those laws go into effect and someone accuses vassalengine.org of
copyright violation–whether proved or not–the site will go down. I think
it’s hosted in the U.S., no?

Maybe we should put something on CSW as well. I was just on the GMT folder
and there are some favourable views regarding those two laws. I don’t
think a lot of people understand how much of a blunt instrument those two
laws are.

  • M.

On 18 January 2012 15:18, uckelman uckelman@nomic.net wrote:

SOPA and PIPA, bills under consideration in the US House and Senate,
pose a grave thread to the internet. In particular, the copyright
provisions could stop VASSAL in its tracks. If you value your ability to
play games that you own using VASSAL, and you’re a US citizen, please
consider calling or writing your representative and senators and
expressing your oppositoin to SOPA (House bill) and PIPA (Senate bill)
before 24 January, when Congress is scheduled to vote.

The Electronic Fronteir Foundation has a handy web form which makes it
easy to email your congresspeople:

blacklists.eff.org/[1]

[1] blacklists.eff.org/

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Thus spake Michael Kiefte:

Joel, you should put something on the main website.

I debated about whether it was appropriate to do this, and came to the
conclusion that, yes, we should—and by then SOPA was dead. When this
comes up again, and I’m sure it will in the not-so-distant future, I
will put something on the front page.

If those laws go into effect and someone accuses vassalengine.org of
copyright violation–whether proved or not–the site will go down. I think
it’s hosted in the U.S., no?

Yes, in Arizona. We—along with everyone else—would look for a non-US
host should something like SOPA become law in the US.

Maybe we should put something on CSW as well. I was just on the GMT folder
and there are some favourable views regarding those two laws. I don’t
think a lot of people understand how much of a blunt instrument those two
laws are.

Wow, really? Regarding the effect of SOPA on VASSAL in particular, or
just about SOPA in general?


J.