Saving the Internet one phone call at a time

People in America don’t like it when their freedoms are taken away or threatened. So when word came down that congress was trying to pass a bill called the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) people didn’t take too kindly to it. The purpose of SOPA is to expand the ability for United States law enforcement to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods. What people were worried about was the extent of this coverage. Some people were worried that if you did something so simple as use a picture on your website that was taken by somebody else without properly sourcing it, that action could lead to you getting arrested for stolen intellectual property. Regardless, it was going to change how the Internet works and people didn’t like that.

So people began creating movements to protest this bill. At first it was as simple as sharing a video that was explaining what the bill was all about. As that video became viral more and more people began to take notice and the number of people against the bill began to rise.

Word quickly spread of a “blackout” day that some websites were going to do. Wikipedia spearheaded the move and it was reported that 7,000 other websites participated in a blackout that day. Each website that participated described how SOPA would change the landscape of the Internet and it gave people ways on how to make their voice known in protest and that was really simple. Call or email your state representative and let them know your disapproval of this bill.

To link this back to “Here Comes Everybody,” Shirky says the tools need to be simple to get people to join in. Everybody knows how to use a phone or email program and these websites gave you an easy way to find your contact information of your state representative. The amount of support for opposing the bill was overwhelming and the bill was announced as postponed.

This is just another example of if you can get people to rally behind something and make it easy for them to do so then they will. Nothing is easier than calling or emailing someone when their information is given to you. It was a great idea of a protest and the blackouts really got to people. It just shows you yet again, if people are interested (or in this case against) something and you make it easier for them to contribute, people will flock to that something and do their part. In this case, that was used for a good purpose.