Dear Senator Stabenow, Senator Levin and Representative Huizenga:
Years have passed since a major, ubiquitous blackout protest on the Internet, and that year was 1995. If Google and Wikipedia are participating, one must give pause and reflect upon their reasons for going dark.
The first Internet blackout, we were just beginning the Internet era, and Yahoo existed. Google, Wikipedia, YouTube and Amazon were still to ascend. Trillions of dollars of wealth has been unlocked for humanity by allowing the Internet unprecedented freedoms. The Internet is a powerful, irresistible communication media because of its design nature. It was designed to permit communication without a central control intelligence. As an effect, It has the power to topple business models to undemocratic regimes. Like water that can topple any human structure, it has the power to topple and circumvent bad legislation.
It was designed to be redundant, allowing messages through by second or third path if another path was blocked or lost. It was designed to be similar to human speech and writing, which we know goes forward effectively in democracies and dictatorships, in high level conferences and prisons. The human word can go forth by word of mouth, sneaker net or even encoded under the guise of drumming or disguised in knitting. The Internet places human speech and communication into a new world by making speech as fast as light and as globe-trotting as sunshine. We have banked our future on this synergy of speech and electricity.
For more than a quarter century, great progress has been made in turning back the clock against inhumanity, ignorance and illiteracy, thanks to the viral and vital nature of the Internet. I believe SOPA and the Anti-Piracy legislation before your consideration has the power to change the viral, vital nature of the Internet, to give corporations the power to regulate the community and own it. I don't want to say all information wants to be free; however, the more people can participate in the exchange of information, the greater the good for mankind. As we shut down piracy, we must be sure to allow all human minds reasonable access to the best ideas for life.
Before moving forward on this legislation, please convene a conference of experts, from designers of business models to futurists to bloggers. If we are to legislate changes to the Internet, we must understand the nature of this communication cloud far better. There's plenty of money to be made by content providers given the right laws, business models and understandings. Let's crowdsource a discussion beginning today before we close down the vital community of the Internet to produce small wealth for content providers.
Sincerely,
Your constituent
Wilbo
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