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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