[Blindtlk] FW: [censored]

Sat Jan 14 03:50:58 UTC 2012

Yes, it does make sense.  Thank you!

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: "Steve Jacobson" <steve.jacobson at visi.com
To: "Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Fri, 13 Jan 2012 15:15:15 -0600
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] FW: [censored]

Chris,

There are a couple of problems with all this that I see.  First, 
if our national office says that we
will be introducing a bill and they tell us what it is about, we 
know that this information is accurate
because it is coming from people within our organization we know 
and is directed at our members.  If we
get an e-mail and we don't know anything about the person who 
actually started it, we can't assume that
the issue is valid nor can we trust any links that are forwarded 
in that note.  In this case, I checked
the web site Eric gave and there was no bill number there.  That 
is rather sloppy because it turns out
there really is a bill and a bill number, but both his and your 
notes did not provide us with any
independent way to verify the legitimacy of what was being said.  
You may be too new to remember this,
but for perhaps a decade, an urgent e-mail came around once a 
year telling us to call congress because
the post office was about to start charging for e-mail.  Whether 
anybody ever talked about doing that or
not wasn't really relevant.  The fact was that there was no bill, 
but it was urgent that we do something
for years.  In my opinion, if those who want people to do 
something are serious, and I mean the people
who wrote the original e-mails and not you or Eric, they should 
have included a bill number.

Second, while this is a legitimate bill and while it could impact 
all of us in some way, it really does
not impact us particularly because we are blind.  Lots of things 
impact us as human beings, but we
really can't afford to have everything come across our lists that 
impact us as human beings.  We need to
limit these lists to those topics that are specific to blindness 
or we will be overloaded to say the
least.  It is especially true this year because of the elections.  
Since who is president impacts us,
one could, on that basis, forward campaign materials for all 
candidates to this list.  We might here, at
some point, about positions candidates take on specific issues 
that have to do with blindness, but we
need to look at normal channels to get general campaign 
information.

I hope this makes some sort of sense.

Best regards,

Steve Jacobson

On Fri, 13 Jan 2012 12:36:23 -0600, Chris Nusbaum wrote:

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
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