parkerEFF

That's a problem the copyright lobby is counting on, and have used in the past to slip bills against the public interest through the legislature. Fortunately, there are now more ways than ever to keep up with these issues.

To put in a quick plug, our blog and our EFFector mailing list are good sources of summarized information. We post on Twitter, Identi.ca, and Facebook, if you'd prefer to keep up with us that way. Other public interest groups too, are doing good work in looking through new legislation and court cases to identify when your rights are at stake. And politicians like Darrell Issa and Ron Wyden have made a commitment to a more open legislative process, as demonstrated by the drafting page for their bill at http://keepthewebopen.com.

It's not easy to be an informed citizen, but it's the only way to ensure our rights are preserved. We've seen last week how effective an informed citizenry can be in turning bad legislation around, and we're excited to see more of that sort of action. Thankfully, last week's protest demonstrated that the Internet is now on alert. Hopefully we'll be able to get the message out to all the netizens again in the future.

EFF has been vigorously campaigning against the most troublesome provisions in the IP chapter of ACTA for many years now and our activism has been instrumental in getting a lot of the worst language removed from the final version of the agreement. You can read more from us about the most recent developments in ACTA (hint: it's still bad).

ACTA isn't new, but because of the secretive drafting process, there wasn't much of a chance for concerned citizens to get involved. There are still a handful of hurdles it has to overcome before being a done deal, and we're working now to figure out how to raise those hurdles as much as possible.

If you are concerned about international IP treaties being used to push an intellectual property agenda that potentially censors free speech in the name of curbing Internet piracy, you should also be keeping an eye on the Trans Pacific Partnership Agreement

You can take all the same actions without providing a phone number or any other information to any of the groups involved. (You may have to identify yourself to your legislator.) Here's info on how to do that.

Seconding Yan here. I know it's easier to send an email, but calls are extremely effective in DC. Calls will send a clear message about the bills on the table, but also remind legislators how many people are watching their response to mass surveillance issues.

If you're outside the US, we've put together an action around our Necessary & Proportionate principles, along with hundreds of other organizations, to make clear that mass surveillance is out of line with existing human rights laws.

Sure, SOPA and PIPA may be dead for now, but you can count on their taxidermized shells, like some nightmarish Chuck Testa creation, being worked into new legislation in the future.

We would much rather be making sane policy than fighting bad legislation in Washington or the courts. In some cases, that is to not make policy and regulations at all to address business problems that can be handled in the marketplace. But the first step to getting legislation in the public interest is getting people to speak up about when their interests are at stake; the squeaky wheel gets the grease, and time after time that's been one industry with a large lobby influencing the direction of discourse.

Last week's protests were a good reminder that the public can still change the discussion. We're talking with some of the groups who have been instrumental in figuring out what to do about SOPA and PIPA, to see if we can take the momentum here and convert it into something really positive and proactive for the Internet. Of course, if you've got ideas, we're all ears.