Thu, 01/19/2012 - 2:57pm

#1 [7]

Alice

Title: LumiGRATE Poster - Top of the Totem Pole

Joined: Aug 23 2009

Posts: 51

Re: Senate.gov Contact Info, Including Phone List - Be ...

Yesterday I contacted my Congressman, The Honorable Jo Bonner of Alabama about the upcoming legislation that would in effect censor the internet, our one last free entitly. The bill is purportedly to protect private property, but it would give the government more control of our lives. We don't need it. There are existing laws on the books to protect private property that could be used just as they were used to shut down Napster.

My Congressman is always quick to respond. I have copied his response below:

January 19, 2012

(I have omitted my name and address here.)

Dear Mrs. (omitted):

Thank you for contacting me with regard to H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act, sponsored by Representative Lamar Smith, R-TX.

This legislation would authorize the U.S. Attorney General to seek a court order against a U.S. directed foreign internet site committing or facilitating on-line piracy. H.R. 3261 has been referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary, which held hearings on the legislation in November and December.

To safeguard our economy and jobs, I strongly believe intellectual property rights should be protected. The growing problem of on-line piracy represents a serious threat to American entrepreneurs and businesses whose movies, music, video games and other services are in demand world-wide and, accordingly, are the target of criminals often beyond the reach of U.S. law enforcement. Unfortunately, current measures to prevent on-line theft of American intellectual property are proving outdated and ineffective.

After legislation was introduced in the House last October with the aim of combating on-line piracy, objections were quickly raised about its potential overreach, including internet censorship.

Understanding the considerable opposition to the Stopping Online Piracy Act (SOPA) as currently written, I believe significant changes will be required before it can be considered by the full House. The legislation remains in mark-up before the House Judiciary Committee.

Congress should pursue ways to protect American intellectual property without infringing on the free speech rights of citizens or open access to the internet. The authors should therefore go back to the drawing board to improve their legislation so that free speech rights are not sacrificed in the important effort to protect intellectual property.

Please be assured I will keep your thoughts in mind as this legislation is further considered in the 112 th Congress. Again, thank you for contacting me on this important matter. Please do not hesitate to contact me with comments or concerns you may have regarding this or any other issue. With kind regards, I am

Sincerely,

Jo Bonner
Member of Congress

__________________

Alice Franklin was raised on a sandy beach in Point Clear, AL and lived along the Gulf Coast from Texas to Alabama in her youth, graduating from Fairhope High School on Mobile Bay. Prior to becoming disabled due to severe spine problems, she worked her way into management and purchasing positions in industrial manufacturing and art industries. She worked her way into Lumigrate unknowingly by impressively writing at Lent 2010 about utilizing her religious and spiritual beliefs with chronic pain/disease management (she has had fibromyalgia and chronic myofascial pain for decades); it turns out she holds the priesthood office of elder in her church and became active again in this office in May 2010 and has been pastor or copastor in previous churches. We are so very proud to have her words and thoughts gracing our 'pages' of this website and look forward to what the future holds for her.

Sun, 01/22/2012 - 10:11am

#2 [11]

Mardy Ross

Title: LumiGRATE Poster - Top of the Totem Pole

Joined: Feb 16 2009

Posts: 2032

Follow up from the Colorado Senators

Thank you for your message to my U.S. Senate office. Each week, I receive over 10,000 letters from Coloradans with their thoughts and suggestions. Your views are invaluable and keep me consistently updated on Coloradans’ concerns. Please know that we read each letter and e-mail and will do our utmost to get you a timely response addressing your thoughts and concerns.

I am honored to serve as your U.S. Senator. My top priority in the Senate is to provide efficient and effective representation of people across our state. Please know that my Colorado staff is available to handle specific services relating to the federal government (such as help with a passport, claim for veterans’ benefits or a citizenship matter) and my Denver office can be reached at 303-650-7820. If you would like to check on a request for services from my Washington, D.C. office, please call 202-224-5941 or toll-free at 877-7-MUDALL (877-768-3255). Otherwise, be assured that we are reading your comments.

Warm regards,

Mark Udall
U.S. Senator, Colorado

__________________

Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate [6] and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!

Sun, 01/22/2012 - 10:13am

#3 [12]

Mardy Ross

Title: LumiGRATE Poster - Top of the Totem Pole

Joined: Feb 16 2009

Posts: 2032

And from the second Senator

Dear Friend:

Thank you for your e-mail message. Keeping in touch with Coloradans is important to me. Due to the high volume of messages my office receives on a daily basis, I ask for your patience as I work with my staff to respond to your concerns.

I want to hear your thoughts on the issues that are important to you. The best ideas come from people in Colorado, not from politicians in Washington. That’s why it’s so important for me to hear your thoughts on how we can build a better future for Colorado and our country, together.

While we work to respond to your request, I invite you to read blog updates http://bennet.senate.gov/about/updates/ [13], check out the latest news from your region of Coloradohttp://bennet.senate.gov/ [14], and subscribe to an e-mail newsletter that will provide you with regular updates on my work on behalf of Colorado http://bennet.senate.gov/contact/ [15]. If you want to know more about issues and specific bills before the Senate, please visit our issue pages. If you’re having trouble with a federal agency, visit the constituent services section http://bennet.senate.gov/services/ [16]. Scheduling requests may be e-mailed to scheduler@bennet.senate.gov [17] or sent by fax to 202-228-4083.

Thank you for contacting me.

__________________

Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate [6] and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!

Mon, 08/19/2013 - 7:12pm

#4 [18]

Mardy Ross

Title: LumiGRATE Poster - Top of the Totem Pole

Joined: Feb 16 2009

Posts: 2032

Protests against SOPA and PIPA coordinated protests had results

Per Wikipedia: en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protests_against_SOPA_and_PIPA [19] Below is what is at the topic/link overall for information to help you see what the overall is, but it has a graphic and is just much better for your learning and understanding to go and see all the details that Wikipedia has provided, this is only the overview, below.

Protests against SOPA and PIPA

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"Wikipedia blackout" redirects here. For the Wikipedia community [20] proposal that led to the English Wikipedia blackout, see Wikipedia:SOPA initiative [21].

A screenshot of the English Wikipedia [22] landing page, symbolically its only page during the blackout on January 18, 2012. (A dynamic version of the page can be seen at en.wikipedia.org/?banner=blackout [23], though the "Congress lookup" feature no longer works.)

On January 18, 2012, a series of coordinated protests occurred against two proposed laws in the United States Congress [24]—the Stop Online Piracy Act [25] (SOPA) and thePROTECT IP Act [26] (PIPA). These followed smaller protests in late 2011. Protests were based on concerns that the bills, intended to provide more robust responses tocopyright infringement [27] (colloquially known as piracy) arising outside the United States, contained measures that could cause great harm to online freedom of speech, websites, and internet communities. Protesters also argued that there were insufficient safeguards in place to protect sites based upon user-generated content [28].

The move to a formal protest was initiated when some websites, including Reddit [29] and the English Wikipedia [22], considered temporarily closing their content and redirecting users to a message opposing the proposed legislation. Others, such as Google [30], Mozilla [31], and Flickr [32], soon featured protests against the acts. Some shut completely, while others kept some or all of their content accessible. In all, over 115,000 websites^{[1] [33]} joined the internet protest. In addition to the online protests, there were simultaneous physical demonstrations in several U.S. cities, including New York City, San Francisco and Seattle, and separately during December 2011 a mass boycott of then–supporter Go Daddy [34]. The protests were reported globally.

The January protest, initially planned to coincide with the first SOPA hearing of the year, drew publicity and reaction. Days prior to the action, the White House issued a statement that it would "not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global internet."^{[2] [35]} On January 18 itself, more than 8 million people looked up their representative on Wikipedia,^{[3] [36]} 3 million people emailed Congress to express opposition to the bills,^{[1] [33]} more than 1 million messages were sent to Congress through the Electronic Frontier Foundation [37],^{[4] [38]} a petition [39] at Google [30] recorded over 4.5 million signatures,^{[3] [36]} Twitter [40] recorded at least 2.4 million SOPA-related tweets,^{[3] [36]} and lawmakers collected "more than 14 million names - more than 10 million of them voters - who contacted them to protest" the bills.^{[5] [41]}

During and after the January protest, a number of politicians who had previously supported the bills expressed concerns with the proposals in their existing form, while others withdrew their support entirely. Internationally, "scathing"^{[6] [42]}criticism of the bills was voiced from World Wide Web [43] inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee [44],^{[6] [42]} as well as the European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda [45].^{[7] [46]} Some observers were critical of the tactics used; the Boston Herald [47] described the service withdrawals as evidence of "how very powerful these cyber-bullies can be."^{[8] [48]} Motion Picture Association of America [49] Chairman Chris Dodd [50] stated that the coordinated shutdown was "an abuse of power given the freedoms these companies enjoy in the marketplace today."^{[9] [51]} Others such as The New York Times [52] saw the protests as "a political coming of age for the tech industry."^{[10] [53]}

By January 20, 2012, the political environment regarding both bills had shifted significantly. The bills were removed from further voting, ostensibly to be revised to take into consideration the issues raised,^{[5] [41]} but according to The New York Times [52] probably "shelved"^{[5] [41]} following a "flight away from the bill".^{[5] [41]} Opposers noted the bills had been "indefinitely postponed" but cautioned they were "not dead" and "would return."^{[11] [54]}

__________________

Live and Learn. Learn and Live Better! is my motto. I'm Mardy Ross, and I founded Lumigrate in 2008 after a career as an occupational therapist with a background in health education and environmental research program administration. Today I function as the desk clerk for short questions people have, as well as 'concierge' services offered for those who want a thorough exploration of their health history and direction to resources likely to progress their health according to their goals. Contact Us comes to me, so please do if you have questions or comments. Lumigrate is "Lighting the Path to Health and Well-Being" for increasing numbers of people. Follow us on social networking sites such as: Twitter: http://twitter.com/lumigrate [6] and Facebook. (There is my personal page and several Lumigrate pages. For those interested in "groovy" local education and networking for those uniquely talented LumiGRATE experts located in my own back yard, "LumiGRATE Groove of the Grand Valley" is a Facebook page to join. (Many who have joined are beyond our area but like to see the Groovy information! We not only have FUN, we are learning about other providers we can be referring patients to and 'wearing a groove' to each other's doors -- or websites/home offices!) By covering some of the things we do, including case examples, it reinforces the concepts at Lumigrate.com as well as making YOU feel that you're part of a community. Which you ARE at Lumigrate!

Senate.gov Contact Info, Including Phone List - Be Active

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Protests against SOPA and PIPA