The World Wide Web Foundation was created to promote the Web as a medium that connects humanity and empowers all people.  Two billion people across the globe are currently using the Web to communicate, collaborate, provide services and address challenges. Unfortunately, proposed legislation in the United States threatens to turn the country’s Internet infrastructure into a mechanism of censorship; not unlike what has happened in other countries of which the US has been critical.

The “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA), currently before the United States House Judiciary Committee, would threaten hyperlinked communication without substantially addressing copyright infringement. I, many of my colleagues and most human rights and civil liberties groups believe SOPA is the wrong way to go.  Please review the matter and express your opinion to US legislators.  There is not much time, as Congress is considering this bill now. Useful resources include Rebecca McKinnon’s New York Times OP-Ed “Stop the Great Firewall of America“, PC World’s SOPA Primer, americancensorship.org, and the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Let’s work to ensure that the United States retains its leadership on matters of free expression and global communication.

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