[Blindtlk] FW: [censored]

Fri Jan 13 18:36:23 UTC 2012

Eric,

This is the same bill the guy who wrote the email I forwarded was 
talking about.  I happen to know the name of the bill: the Stop 
Internet Piracy Act (SOPA.) I'm not sure of a bill number, but at 
least you can Google the name of the bill and find it.  So how 
can you say that what you sent about the same bill
effects all blind people, but what I sent doesn't? Also, both 
emails provided a Web site on which you can sign a petition; one 
to Congress itself to vote against the bill and one to Electronic 
Arts (EA) to tell their officials to make a company-wide stance 
against the bill.  So, I saw both emails as a short ad; a teaser 
of sorts.  It's an advertising ploy; describe the bill's intent 
in a way that gets the audience fired up, then give a Web site 
hoping that people will start to feel passionate about supporting 
or opposing this bill and will go to the site and sign the 
petition.  Also, the email I sent may not be as professionally 
written as, say, the official complaints or petitions written by 
the NFB's governmental affairs team, but it is a citizen writing 
to other citizens asking them to sign a petition and help him 
spread the word about something he is passionate about, which he 
has the right to do, and so do I to distribute it, and so do all 
of us! So, although the email itself might not have a bill number 
or any "official" information, you might find that information on 
the Web site itself, as that Web site has the actual petition.

If the petition wasn't legitimate, then why would the email have 
a Web site of an organization who is circulating a petition, and 
gives you a place to sign the petition? And, what makes your 
petition any more legitimate than mine? By the way, I read your 
ad in the Ziegler; wow! What an appeal to the ladies, LOL!

Chris

"The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight.  The 
real problem is the misunderstanding and lack of education that 
exists.  If a blind person has the proper training and 
opportunity, blindness can be reduced to a mere physical 
nuisance."
-- Kenneth Jernigan

----- Original Message -----
From: "Eric Calhoun" <eric at pmpmail.com
To: blindtlk at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Wed, 11 Jan 2012 02:01:52 -0600
Subject: [Blindtlk] FW: [censored]

See this, Chris?  This one affects all blind people.  It talks 
about the
bill, its intent, and why people should sign the petition.

Eric

Original Message:
From: "Jess Kutch, Change.org" <mail at change.org
To: eric at pmpmail.com
Subject: [censored]
Date:
Tue, 10 Jan 2012 22:58:45 -0800

Congress has a plan to change the Internet forever.  A bill 
they're
debating right now would give the government power to shut down 
whole
websites, and even let corporations say which websites should be 
shut down.

That means a huge corporation could have any website even 
suspected of
violating a copyright shut down -- no questions asked.  The 
government could
then completely block all access to sites as big as Facebook or 
YouTube if
one person posts one thing on those websites that corporations 
don't want
online.

Most major entertainment companies have come out in support of 
the bill,
but despite swirling rumors, the huge video-gaming company 
Electronic Arts
(EA) has yet to take an official stance.  However, EA is part of 
the
Entertainment Software Association, one of the big corporate 
lobbyists for
the bill to censor the Internet -- meaning that if EA came out 
against the
bill, that would be a serious blow to the people trying to get it 
passed.

Shashank Kasturirangan is a student at NYU who's a huge fan of 
gaming --
including EA's games -- but he can't believe that EA would want 
to mess
with the Internet.  Shashank started a petition on Change.org 
calling on
Electronic Arts to stop lobbying for Congress's plan to censor 
the Internet
and come out against the bill.  Click here to add your name to 
his petition.

http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-electronic-arts-to-oppose-in
ternet-cens
orship?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&alert_id=dZDVYxQm
LI_oLKqgeiB
KM&me=aa

The Internet censorship bill is particularly dangerous, according 
to
advocates, because it would enable the government to set up the 
same type
of tools to block online content that are used in repressive 
regimes around
the world, like China, Iran, and Syria.  For the first time, 
corporations
and the government would be able to say what's acceptable to put 
on the
Internet.

While some companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter have come 
out
against the bill, big movie studios, record companies, and their 
corporate
lobbyists like the Entertainment Software Association are pushing 
Congress
hard to pass Internet censorship.

Electronic Arts has millions of customers around the world 
playing video
games like Madden 2012, The Sims, and Scrabble, and they care 
deeply about
what the public thinks about their company.  If enough people 
call on EA to
oppose the plan to censor the Internet, they will be forced to 
come out
against the bill.  And if EA backs off, other companies that 
haven't yet
taken a position will certainly think twice before supporting 
Congress's
plan to censor the Internet.

Sign Shashank's petition to Electronic Arts to stop lobbying for 
Internet
censorship and oppose the bill in Congress.  Click here to sign.

http://www.change.org/petitions/tell-electronic-arts-to-oppose-in
ternet-cens
orship?utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&alert_id=dZDVYxQm
LI_oLKqgeiB
KM&me=aa

Thanks for being a change-maker,

- Jess and the Change.org team

You are receiving this action alert as a Change.org member.  We 
send no
more than
one action alert per week.  To stop receiving these important 
alerts on
behalf of our
organization sponsors, you can unsubscribe by copying the url 
below and
pasting it into
your browser:

http://www.change.org/account_settings/action_alerts_opt_out?emai
l_id=XFMUGF
LPVCIXLVXHGOMQ&utm_source=action_alert&utm_medium=email&alert_id=
dZDVYxQmLI_
oLKqgeiBKM&me=aa

-------------- next part --------------
A non-text attachment was scrubbed...
Name: attachment
Type: application/octet-stream
Size: 314 bytes
Desc: not available
URL: <http://nfbnet.org/pipermail/blindtlk_nfbnet.org/attachments/20120113/d5c29d1c/attachment.obj>