GreyMatterIdeas

Dear Mr. Steve Southerland, Mr. Bill Nelson and Mr. Marco Rubio,
I am a writer and musician, living in your district. I am trying to advance my artistic career, and since I am one of the little guys, my voice doesn’t carry very far. Thanks to a free and open Internet, I can use that tool to advance my art, at minimal cost to me (greymatterideas.com). I am the artist that the MPAA and the RIAA are trying to protect with these poorly worded bills (SOPA and PIPA). It is my belief that passage of these bills will all but eliminate innovation from the next start-up, or the next breakthrough artist. Passage of these bills will give too much power to the very organizations that have been stealing from the artists they pretend to protect. It sounds to me like they are interested in eliminating their competition.

Today’s music artists and authors don’t necessarily need the record labels/publishing houses anymore. They are capable of forming their own labels and publishing houses and doing the work themselves. The RIAA is trying desperately to hold on to an antiquated business model that made them wealthy. The times have changed and they have failed to change with it. Now, their only recourse is to prey on our unsuspecting Congress to pass legislation that will enable them to shut down anyone that is making a dent into their business. This is foolish and probably illegal.

The First Amendment
(stated here:
Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the government for a redress of grievances.)

expressly forbids this type of legislation. We have seen in the recent past, the power of the Internet to bring people
together, We are seeing it now with the blackout of Wikipedia and other websites, as well as the Occupy movement (although I personally think that most of those people are idiots who should go back to work and occupy the VOTING booths instead).

We cannot allow a United States where we have this much broad filtering of content. If this legislation is enacted, how are we any different from China? This is not an issue where our civil rights are being violated in the interests of national security. It’s movies and music.

I understand the need for protecting against piracy; however,these bills (SOPA and PIPA) are NOT the answer. Please vote NO on these bills. Thank you.