[Congressional Record Volume 158, Number 6 (Wednesday, January 18, 2012)]
[House]
[Page H45]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                              {time}  1230
                        COMBATING ONLINE PIRACY

  (Mr. POLIS asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. POLIS. Mr. Speaker, today many Web sites across the Internet, 
from Reddit to Wikipedia, have blacked out their sites in protest of a 
bill before this body, the Stop Online Piracy Act, and its accompanying 
bill in the Senate, the PIPA Act. These bills threaten free discourse, 
free speech, and the very infrastructure of the Internet, itself.
  The Internet has brought this country and the world so much, not only 
in terms of the millions of jobs and economic productivity of American 
citizens, but far-reaching changes in terms of the Arab Spring and the 
Voice of Freedom desires across the world. SOPA and PIPA directly 
threaten the very Internet that has brought humanity great prosperity 
and greater peace.
  I call upon my colleagues to join in solidarity with Internet users 
across the world in making sure that we tackle online piracy in a way 
that doesn't throw out the baby with the bathwater.

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