Hi.
If you’re reading this, chances are really good you’re part of the overwhelmingly large majority of internet users who frequent websites that involve “user created content.” Basically any website that allows “user created content,” be it comments, or forum posts, or the uploading of funny pictures or cute videos of your puppy and/or child, along with pithy quips on pop cutlture or the sharing of links to some good music fall under the umbrella of “user created content sites.” Facebook, Twitter, Google, HLS, NDN, every sports “blog” you’ll read today, any fan forums, and all sites that let users contribute to create an online community are under a very real and very big threat of becoming untenable due to legislation being pushed through Congress as we speak. Essentially, if this legislation were to pass, it would be too dangerous for us to run HLS any longer. Further, and even worse, it would threaten our right to free speech.
All because some bigwigs in Hollywood with a lot of cash, and a lot of lawyers, hate that they never adapted to the way the world communicates since about, oh, 1993.
HLS is really important to me, but even more important to me are sites and services I’ve built in the past that help teach children how to read, help teachers better communicate with their students’ parents, and help schools find the resources they need to provide a better educational experience for kids. The very same legal forces at work that could, and would, shut down a trivial venture like HLS absolutely could, and would shut down those sites too.
Please go here to learn more, contact your congressional representatives, fight for the internet, and fight for the future. Thanks.
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PAK
I’d recommend that people take the time to write their Congress-person. All of them have email forms on their websites, and though they probably don’t monitor the email personally, the information does get to them.
Sad Warrior
Those who would crush Internet freedom should never be trusted with that power in the first place. And they are out there lurking, plotting, and planning ways to curtail anything they feel is contrary to their brand of thinking. Resisting them is noble. I choose to resist.
John Galt
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