|
Dear
christian,
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.
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.
Thanks
for being a change-maker,
-
Jess and the Change.org team | 
