News & Announcements:

[MsJacquiiC]

On Wednesday, January 18 -- JPiC Forum for Writers joined hundreds of websites in what was the largest online protest in history, a strike against the under-consideration internet legislations SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act), both of which would heap a level of censorship upon the online community, the likes of which have never been seen before.

As a non-censorship community, JPiC was "blacked out" for 24 hours. We're back online now though and hope our involvement has inspired you to act as well. We do surely encourage you to join the protest and make your own voice heard by contacting Congress now and calling the Senate all next week.

A little more info regarding the PIPA / SOPA legislations:
Click Here To View Sopa/Pipa Infographic

The Following Text Is Quoted:

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is a law (bill) of the United States proposed in 2011 to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods. Proposals include barring advertising networks and payment facilities from conducting business with allegedly infringing websites, barring search engines from linking to the sites, and requiring Internet service providers (ISP) to block access to the sites. The bill would criminalize the streaming of such content, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison.



User-content websites such as YouTube would be greatly affected, and concern has been expressed that they may be shut down if the bill becomes law. Opponents state the legislation would enable law enforcement to remove an entire internet domain due to something posted on a single blog, arguing that an entire online community could be punished for the actions of a tiny minority. In a 1998 law, copyright owners are required to request the site to remove the infringing material within a certain amount of time. SOPA would bypass this "safe harbor" provision by placing the responsibility for detecting and policing infringement onto the site itself.

Lobbyists for companies that rely heavily on revenue from intellectual property copyright state it protects the market and corresponding industry, jobs, and revenue. The US president and legislators suggest it may kill innovation. Representatives of the American Library Association state the changes could encourage criminal prosecution of libraries. Other opponents state that requiring search engines to delete a domain name begins a worldwide arms race of unprecedented censorship of the Web and violates the First Amendment.

On January 18, English Wikipedia, Reddit, and several other internet companies coordinated a service blackout to protest SOPA and its sister bill, the Protect IP Act, an estimated 7,000 smaller websites either joined in or posted some kind of protest. Companies, including Google, posted links and images in an effort to raise awareness. A number of other protest actions were organized, including petition drives and boycotts of companies that support the legislation.

Join The Protest And Contact Your Congressional Representative Now!

[Curtis Spider Lee]

I think congress needs to find better things to do....like help get our troops home faster, shut down bad Bank standards, help people get good paying jobs and health care.....yo don't get me started!

[MsJacquiiC]

You better preach!

And you're right - Especially when you consider the past several years of gridlock and bad politics, and how desperately the real issues of the day need solving and solving pronto! Legislation that equals censorship?!? Don't you wonder why the hell congress is even considering pandering to a billion dollar industry that basically sets its overpriced standard upon all. I suppose "overpriced" is sujective ((sigh...)) Anyway...

Nice to see you on the board = hope 2012 is treating you wonderfully thus far

J.