The Internet Defense League, a grassroots coalition of thousands of web activists, online businesses and tech-savvy politicians, officially began on Thursday its campaign to protect the Internet.
The goal of the Internet Defense League? Keep opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act organized so the next time they feel threatened by legislation they're already prepared to act — and act quickly.
"The Internet Defense League is about taking the network that beat SOPA and turn it into a full political force, said Tiffiniy Cheng, co-founder of Fight for the Future, an Internet advocacy group that organized the league. "Users feel passionate attachment to the sites they use every day, and we'll be able to leverage all of that passion to defend the Internet. If we band together, the SOPA blackout that happened six months ago will be just the beginning. Twenty-four million people took part in that fight, and we see them as a new constituency."
The Internet Defense League will serve three purposes: It will be a forum for Internet activists to network with one another to discuss and debate policy issues, it will organize experts to teach legislators about digital issues and it will provide a mechanism for quickly distributing information about potentially threatening legislation.
The information-sharing part of the Internet Defense League works like this: Individuals, companies and non-profits who join the League can embed code on their website known as the "catsignal," a doubly geeky reference to the "batsignal" of Batman lore and the Internet's fondness for cats. When the league wants to send an alert about a particular bill or other activity, it can trigger the code to make the message automatically appear on every website where the code exists:
Membership in the league so far is a who's who in online activism and web culture: Republican Congressman Darrell Issa of California, MEP Marietje Schaake of the Netherlands, WordPress, Mozilla, Imgur, Electronic Frontier Foundation, Boing Boing, Cheezburger, Public Knowledge, Fark, Reddit, Craig Newmark's CraigConnects, OpenCongress/PPF, TechDirt, Patrick Ruffini, Hypemachine, CCIA and Torrentfreak are all on board with this digital Justice League.
It's simple for an individual to join: One only needs to sign up on the Internet Defense League's website. Website owners can get the "catsignal" code there, too.
Rainey Reitman, activism director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation (which is a member of the League), said during a conference call announcing the launch that she believes protecting the Internet is vital to preserving American democracy.
"What we're doing here is about reclaiming our democracy to ensure people who are affected by [technology] policy will have their voices resonate loud and clear in the halls of Washington," said Reitman. "[The SOPA fight] showcases what democracy is supposed to look like in the digital age. Congress isn't keeping up with technology and that's incredibly dangerous. It's dangerous for the future of the country and the foudnign principles of the constitution."
To celebrate the launch, the League is hosting parties in major cities around the world, complete with actual "catsignals" beaming into the sky and onto nearby buildings. It will also livestream the events online.
This goes into a giant spotlight and comes out like 8000% bigger! Thanks to @ApolloDesign for producing so quickly! twitter.com/fightfortheftr…
— Fight for the Future (@fightfortheftr) July 18, 2012
Hundreds of thousands of Internet users banded together to fight off SOPA earlier this year. However, opposition to the bill was at first fragmented, and it took time and energy to organize activism in a meaningful way — and all the while SOPA was gaining bipartisan support in Congress. As League member Rep. Jim Moran put it, he "at first saw little opportunity for success despite my willingness to engage" when he was approached by a colleague to oppose SOPA (ultimately, his side was victorious).
Do you think the Internet needs a group of experts and activists to defend it against whatever may be the "next SOPA?" Share your thoughts in the comments.
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