Organizations on piracy: right, not rapid

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Media watchdog Public Knowledge and about 70 of its closest friends have fired off a letter to all members of Congress asking them to take a breather and start from scratch on any legislation designed to curb internet piracy. In other words, drop SOPA and PIPA and embark on a fresh start.


PK coordinated the effort, in a letter that focused on this point: “Now is the time for Congress to take a breath, step back, and approach the issues from a fresh perspective.” 

“This letter shows that the opposition to SOPA and PIPA came from an extraordinarily diverse coalition of well-informed groups and companies who understood perfectly well what was in the bills.  This was not an industry-led movement, it was an Internet user movement,” said Ernesto Falcon, congressional affairs director for Public Knowledge.  “Contrary to what Hollywood executives are saying, the sole reason why the Internet blackout occurred was because the public was concerned by these over-reaching bills that had no business being considered.”

In the letter, the group challenge the idea that piracy is as big a problem as is being represented, and ask for a thorough and unbiased study to determine its true extent.

It also suggests that the legislative attempts that went down in flames suffered by coming from the Hollywood perspective, rather than attacking the problem holistically. “Too often, Congress has focused exclusively on areas where some rights holders believe existing law is too weak, without also considering the ways in which existing policies have undermined free speech and innovation.”

The following organizations signed on to the letter:
106 Miles
Access
Access Humboldt
American Library Association
Amicus
Amnesty International (USA)
Art Is Change
Asana
Association of College and Research Libraries
Automattic
Canvas Networks
Center for Democracy & Technology
Center for Media Justice
Center for Rural Strategies
Cheezburger Network
ColorofChange.org
Consumers Union
Demand Progress
Democracy for America
Don’t Censor the Net
Electronic Frontier Foundation
Engine Advocacy
Entertainment Consumers Association
F2C: Freedom to Connect
Fight for the Future
Foundry Group
Free Press Action Fund
Free Speech TV
Hackers & Founders
Hattery
Human Rights Defense Center
Human Rights Watch
InSparq
Institute for Local Self-Reliance
Internet Archive
Learning About Multimedia Project
Main Street Project
Mayfirst/People Link
Media Alliance
Media Literacy Project
Media Mobilizing Project
Mom’s Rising
Mountain Area Information Network
Mozilla
NAMAC
Native Public Media
New America Foundation’s Open Technology Initiative
New Media Rights
NY Tech Meetup
OATV
OpenCongress.org
OpenGovernment.org
O’Reilly Media
Participatory Politics Foundation
PCUN Oregon Farmworkers Union
People’s Production House
Presente.org
Public Knowledge
reddit inc.
Reel Grrls
Save Hosting Coalition
SF New Tech
Startup Weekend
SV Angel
Teethie, Inc
Thousand Kites
Tucows Inc.
Twitpic Inc.
Women In Media & News
Women Who Tech
Women, Action & the Media
Women’s Media Center
WordPress Foundation