SOPA is "weaponized censorship"

2 points by JGailor 14 years ago | 5 comments

This IMO, far and above anything else, was the most important phrase in Anons release against SOPA. I'm asking a serious question here: How do we completely associate the term "weaponized censorship" with SOPA and bills like it. This is the sound-bite that the average person needs to hear to start making the right connections about this bill.

I'm asking for advice and help in changing the dialog to make this the message that those of us against SOPA use to help other people understand.

* Edit: Link to anonymous release:

http://thenextweb.com/wp-content/blogs.dir/1/files/2011/12/xtjag.png

twunde 14 years ago |

It needs to hit mainstream media, not just the ones who read hacker news, reddit. You need to be able to explain to your aunt (the one who still uses Windows XP) what this bill does and why they should care succinctly.

One of the best ways might be to call up journalists/news bureaus for the local papers/tv stations and discuss it with them and what impact the bill will have locally. Will it mean that a popular startup will close? Will it mean that people won't be able to read Reddit/Twitter/Facebook because their ips will be blocked? Will it mean that the cool startup that uses cloud hosting might end up shutting down if the cloud carrier is blocked? Tell them!

If you go to church ask the pastor if you could say a few words about the bill (same applies for other religions). Virtually nobody outside of the tech industry has heard of this bill.

And please, when you see your family for the holidays, bring it up.

JGailor 14 years ago | |

This is really awesome advice. Thanks. Living in the Bay Area sometimes means you're in an echo chamber. I hope that as people travel for the holidays they will take your advice and bring it up to friends and family that may not be exposed to this kind of information.

twunde 14 years ago | |

And of course when you do discuss it make sure to mention the term "weaponized censorship" at least 3 times while talking. Repetition will keep the phrase in a person's mind so that when they discuss it with someone else or write a blog post they will use the same term

nextparadigms 14 years ago |

Do you have a link for the Anon release? It would be easier for anyone reading this to understand what you're talking about.

JGailor 14 years ago | |

Just added it to the posting. Thanks for pointing this out, but beyond the release itself, I feel like it's hard to make someone who's generally apathetic about news or politics understand why something like SOPA could be so damaging to the freedom of expression and information the Internet had engendered. There seems to be some sort of social/psychology need to tie things up in neat packaging to make it easy to consume, and "weaponized censorship" really galvanized me.