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November 18, 2010 23:13
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Senator Schumer, | |
I am one of your constituents, and I'm writing you to express my extreme | |
disapproval of the COICA bill you recently voted for in the Senate Judiciary | |
committee. | |
This bill is harmful (and even offensive). It frightens me both as a citizen | |
and a web developer. | |
As a human being, it irks me to see the US attempting to regulate access to | |
speech on the internet. Enacting COICA would put the US on a very short list of | |
countries that meddle in their citizen's access to the internet—countries such | |
as China and Iran. The internet is full of content, inspiring and profane, | |
harmless and illicit -- but it is not the place of the US government to police | |
the content of the world, nor do I think that our government is up to the task | |
of classifying speech on such a scale. | |
As a web developer attempting to build new products and services for the | |
internet, such a bill is doubly frightening. Government moves slowly, and new | |
technologies often elude its understanding (and legislation). The thought of | |
a corporation-backed, government-administered blacklist would have a chilling | |
effect on innovation; entrepreneurs and investors could never be certain that | |
their product would not run afoul of a large corporate interest (or be | |
misunderstood by government) and unjustly blacklisted. Even a mere accusation | |
might be enough to put a business under, as many innovators do not have the | |
resources to mount a legal defense versus a large corporation or the government | |
itself. This uncertainty undercuts the heart of what made the internet into | |
a modern engine of innovation: the ability to build something and reach a wide | |
audience without the resources of a large corporation. After COICA, every | |
budding venture would be operating in a climate of uncertainty, and investors | |
will react accordingly -- tightening their purse strings at a moment where | |
investment and new businesses are critical to our nation's recovery. | |
You've already heard that this bill is unconstitutional from prominent legal | |
minds. Censorship is not American. Please, do your best to make sure this | |
travesty is not enacted into law. | |
Your Concerned Constituent, | |
Idan Gazit |
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