[Discuss] SOPA

[bill at horne.net (Bill Horne)]

On 12/19/2011 3:01 PM, Matthew Gillen wrote:
> On 12/19/2011 02:50 PM, Rich Braun wrote:
>> Ackkk, the politicians are turning their attention to the Internet 
>> again.
>> First came the America Invents Act of 2011.  Now comes SOPA, the Stop 
>> Online
>> Piracy Act, which gives the same corporate clowns control over who 
>> gets to say
>> what online.  Appropriate for bureaucrats in China or North Korea, 
>> perhaps,
>> but here I say hands off my Internet.
>>
>> Read more at:
>>   
>> http://motherboard.vice.com/2011/12/16/dear-congress-it-s-no-longer-ok-to-not-know-how-the-internet-works
>>
>> Congressman Capuano already has a letter from me in his in-box.  
>> Write yours...
>
> I wrote Sen. Brown about this and got an acknowledgment letter back 
> within a couple hours.  Nothing stating an opinion on the legislation, 
> but enough of a reply to make me believe that someone in his office at 
> least read my letter.
>
> I never got a response when I wrote Sen. Kerry about a different issue.

Since my grandfather was a in the Massachusetts House, I'll share 
something he taught me: if you /really/ want to get their attention, 
take my advice.

Sit down and use a pen to write a letter by hand. Do /not/ use a printer 
or word processor: write it *BY* *HAND*, in cursive, and then send it 
off to Washington.

People are funny: writing a letter with a paper and pen is hard work - 
and your elected representatives /know/ that. They know that someone 
willing to go through that much trouble is /really/ hot under the 
collar, and hand-written letters are the only ones that get prompt, 
individual attention.

Email is analyized and weighted for keywords, after being run through 
/very/ expertly devised filters which identify "mail bomb" auto-writing 
campaigns and chain letters. Printed mail is often simply weighed, after 
being sorted by zip code. Only hand-written letters get seen by a real 
person.

FWIW. HTH.

Bill

-- 
Bill Horne
339-364-8487