Congress Sneaks SOPA Back onto Next Week's Agenda, Anonymous Is Not Pleased (VIDEO)

So, it seems those sneaky politicians aren’t going to wait until the New Year to resume the debate on SOPA after all.

Earlier in the week, it appeared that the discussion on the controversial bill would be tabled until 2012.

Perhaps sensing that, if they wait too long, the opposition might grow too strong too ignore, the U.S. House of Representatives Judiciary Committee will continue its hearing on the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) on Wednesday, December 21, 2011.

Committee chair Lamar Smith quietly announced that there would be a special session on the 21st (when most folks will likely be too distracted by the impending holiday) to finish up the bill’s markup.

At the urging of some SOPA opponents, Smith said yesterday that he would consider a hearing or a classified briefing on the bill’s impact on cybersecurity. Over 80 onternet engineers and cybersecurity experts have raised serious security concerns about the bill, which would require ISPs and domain name registrars to block the domain names of websites accused of copyright infringement.

It is not yet known how Wednesday’s hearing will affect the future of SOPA, which is sponsored by Smith and 31 other lawmakers.

Continuing the markup hearing on Wednesday, when many lawmakers will be out of Washington, D.C., “demonstrates a clear desire to continue dodging the questions raised by experts, members, and the public,” said Sherwin Siy, deputy legal director of Public Knowledge.

This is a clear move to sneak this bill through before anyone can make too big of a stink out of it. This is the equivalent of a quarterback running a play quickly before the officials have time to review the previous play. They’re hoping no one notices.

We cannot let this happen…and Anonymous agrees.

The notorious internet collective has just released a new message regarding SOPA. Please listen to their message and contact your Congressperson on Monday morning!

As Anonymous says in the video below, “doing nothing is the worst thing you can do.”

Video and transcript below.

Citizens of the United States.

We are ANONYMOUS.

There is a new bill that the United States government has successfully passed. It is called the Stop Online Piracy Act, or (SOPA) for short. Also known as The Protect IP Act of 2011. The US Congressional Budget Office estimates that implementation of the bill would cost the federal government 47 million dollars through 2016. Translated into plain english, It will cost tax payers 47 million dollars over the next 4 years.
The SOPA act will censor you from accessing certain websites and block all access to other areas of the internet that the United States government does not want you to access.

The SOPA act essentually means, that even if you make a video of your child playing or singing and you have music playing in the background, or video on TV, you are breaking the law, and the government will order the websites that host your content to censor your content because of their new bill. Or if you visit websites that are on servers not in the United States you will be blocked so that you cannot access them.

Ask yourselves, Who really owns the internet?

The answer is simple: no one actually owns the Internet, and no single person, organization or government controls the Internet in its entirety. It is more of a concept than an actual tangible entity, and the Internet relies on a physical infrastructure that connects networks to other networks. There are many organizations, corporations, governments, schools, private citizens and service providers that all own pieces of the infrastructure that make up the internet, but there is no one entity that owns it all. How can the US government decide to block access to parts of the internet that the US government does not even own? The SOPA act is a direct violation to people’s right to freedom of knowlege and information, And for that violation the United States government is a disgrace to the land of the free, The free that every United States soldier has fought or died for. The United States government is essentually telling the people of the United States that they are free to do as the government tells them. If people do not follow their rules they will arrest them for making an attempt to learn. But the government will tell the media that these people are getting arrested for acts of treason, domestic terrorism, or internet piracy.
As for the United States government. Who gave you the right to regulate the people’s right to think outside the box and use the internet as they see fit? If we cut off global internet, shouldn’t we also cut off all foreign affairs? Should we hinder globalization completely? Perhaps all other World Trade Centers are acts of terrorism by existing, as they use the Internet for commerce. The ambiguity of this bill should terrify you.

This video likely will not last long on Youtube. As long as you can, download Youtube Downloader, and help us share this message.

If you speak, they have to listen. If they do not listen, Their blatant disregard for the people will not go un-noticed, and is not acceptible. Doing nothing is the worst thing you can do.

We are anonymous.
We are legion.
We do not forgive.
We do not forget.
Expect us!