Notable websites and groups protesting:
135-603: Major bill supporters: On January 18, 2012, a series of coordinated protests occurred against two proposed laws in the United States Congress —the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA). These followed smaller protests in late 2011. Protests were based on concerns that the bills, intended to provide more robust responses to copyright infringement (also known as piracy) arising outside
270-567: A " crowdsourcing solution for those left searching for answers" during the Misplaced Pages blackout by inviting users to ask questions on Twitter using the hashtag #altwiki. An executive of the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) dubbed the blackout plan an example of the "gimmicks and distortion" that inflamed passions while failing to solve the problem of copyright infringement by "draw[ing] people away from trying to resolve what
405-521: A "publicity stunt," and stated with reference to Misplaced Pages that "it is ironic a website dedicated to providing information is spreading misinformation about the Stop Online Piracy Act." On January 17, 2012, in response to growing concerns over PIPA and SOPA, the White House stated that it "will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines
540-679: A 1984 case, Davis v. Bandemer , the Supreme Court held that gerrymandered districts could be struck down based on the Equal Protection Clause , but the Court did not articulate a standard for when districts are impermissibly gerrymandered. However, the Court overruled Davis in 2004 in Vieth v. Jubelirer , and Court precedent holds gerrymandering to be a political question . According to calculations made by Burt Neuborne using criteria set forth by
675-484: A 70% higher pension than other federal employees based on the first 20 years of service. They become eligible to receive benefits after five years of service (two and one-half terms in the House). The FERS is composed of three elements: Members of Congress may retire with full benefits at age 62 after five years of service, at age 50 after 20 years of service, and at any age after 25 years of service. With an average age of 58,
810-559: A FEHBP plan upon retirement. The ACA and the final rule do not affect members' or staffers' eligibility for Medicare benefits. The ACA and the final rule also do not affect members' and staffers' eligibility for other health benefits related to federal employment, so members and staff are eligible to participate in FSAFEDS (which has three options within the program), the Federal Employees Dental and Vision Insurance Program, and
945-459: A blackout and concerns over the bills continued unabated after the markup hearing and increased in prominence. On January 11, 2012, Senator Patrick Leahy , the main sponsor for PIPA, said of the DNS filtering provision, "I will therefore propose that the positive and negative effects of this provision be studied before implemented", reported by some papers as removal of those provisions. Opposers deemed this
1080-538: A candidate. Therefore, Article I, Section 5, which permits each House to be the judge of the qualifications of its own members does not permit either House to establish additional qualifications. Likewise a State could not establish additional qualifications. William C. C. Claiborne served in the House below the minimum age of 25. Disqualification: under the Fourteenth Amendment , a federal or state officer who takes
1215-507: A coalition of film and record companies has threatened to sue British Telecom if it does not follow suit. A news analysis in the information technology magazine eWeek stated, "The language of SOPA is so broad, the rules so unconnected to the reality of Internet technology and the penalties so disconnected from the alleged crimes that this bill could effectively kill e-commerce or even normal Internet use. The bill also has grave implications for existing U.S., foreign and international laws and
1350-562: A demonstration of how SOPA/PIPA regulation would affect the site. 4chan ran a banner and "censored" posts by users on all image boards, which could be viewed by hovering over them. A video was circulated by the League for Gamers (founded by Mark Kern and supported by ScrewAttack , Extra Credits , and LoadingReadyRun ) protesting the Entertainment Software Association 's support of SOPA by gathering support to boycott
1485-520: A federal statutory requirement since 1967 pursuant to the act titled An Act For the relief of Doctor Ricardo Vallejo Samala and to provide for congressional redistricting . Before that law, general ticket representation was used by some states. States typically redraw district boundaries after each census, though they may do so at other times, such as the 2003 Texas redistricting . Each state determines its own district boundaries, either through legislation or through non-partisan panels. Malapportionment
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#17328514400141620-523: A four-year term, the resident commissioner's role is identical to the delegates from the other territories. The five delegates and resident commissioner may participate in debates; before 2011, they were also allowed to vote in committees and the Committee of the Whole when their votes would not be decisive. States entitled to more than one representative are divided into single-member districts . This has been
1755-489: A gift to the world. We don't charge people for it. It's freely available to anybody who wants to (use it). We are a charity. And I think it's important for people to realize that the ability of our community to come together and give this kind of gift to the world depends on a certain legal infrastructure that makes it possible for people to share knowledge freely -- that the First Amendment is incredibly important in terms of
1890-403: A global business in reaction to single-issue national politics is foolish." Originally, some thought Costolo referred to all of the blackout movements on January 18, 2012, but he subsequently clarified that he was referring to a hypothetical blackout of Twitter and that he was supportive of the Misplaced Pages blackout itself. The sponsor of the bill, Representative Lamar S. Smith , called the blackout
2025-481: A good time to take a quick reading of the community feeling on this issue. To be clear, this is NOT a vote on whether or not to have a strike. This is merely a straw poll to indicate overall interest. If this poll is firmly "opposed" then I'll know that now. But even if this poll is firmly in "support" we'd obviously go through a much longer process to get some kind of consensus around parameters, triggers, and timing. Following initial informal discussions which resulted in
2160-583: A member requires only a simple majority, and does not remove that member from office. As a check on the regional, popular, and rapidly changing politics of the House, the Senate has several distinct powers. For example, the " advice and consent " powers (such as the power to approve treaties and confirm members of the Cabinet ) are a sole Senate privilege. The House, however, has the exclusive power to initiate bills for raising revenue, to impeach officials, and to choose
2295-541: A more deliberative upper house, elected by the lower house, that would represent the individual states, and would be less susceptible to variations of mass sentiment. The House is commonly referred to as the lower house and the Senate the upper house , although the United States Constitution does not use that terminology. Both houses' approval is necessary for the passage of legislation . The Virginia Plan drew
2430-500: A need to have more effective laws to combat the illegal domestic sales of products and services, the counterfeiting and sale of products (such as prescription drugs, athletic shoes, and cosmetics), and worldwide copyright infringing activities which were problematic to prevent inasmuch as they originated outside the United States. Those opposed included a mixture of technology and Internet firms and associations, content creators such as
2565-546: A net of 20,748 domains, twice as many as it lost that day, attributed by Techdirt to a number of causes, in particular customers having moved early, and an appeased customer response to their change of position over SOPA. On December 10, 2011, Misplaced Pages co-founder Jimmy Wales drew attention to concerns over SOPA, which he described as a "much worse law" than the DDL intercettazioni (Wiretapping Bill) in Italy some months earlier, and which
2700-417: A positive response, a formal consultation titled "SOPA Initiative" was opened by the community to consider specific proposals and preferred options. These included matters such as location (United States only or worldwide), and whether content should be disabled completely or still accessible after a click-through page. Eventually, the discussion led to a decision strongly in favor of a 24-hour global blackout of
2835-399: A private plaintiff) need present evidence and the operator of the allegedly infringing site need not be present nor even made aware that the action was pending against his or her 'property.' This not only violates basic principles of due process by depriving persons of property without a fair hearing and a reasonable opportunity to be heard, it also constitutes an unconstitutional abridgement of
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#17328514400142970-452: A radical restructuring of the laws governing the Internet," and that "It would undo the legal safe harbors that have allowed a world-leading Internet industry to flourish over the last decade. It would expose legitimate American businesses and innovators to broad and open-ended liability. The result will be more lawsuits, decreased venture capital investment, and fewer new jobs." A similar claim
3105-524: A result, the process to gain ballot access varies greatly from state to state, and in the case of a third party in the United States may be affected by results of previous years' elections. In 1967, Congress passed the Uniform Congressional District Act , which requires all representatives to be elected from single-member-districts. Following the Wesberry v. Sanders decision, Congress
3240-438: A single MRA that can fund any expense—even though each component is calculated individually, the franking allowance can be used to pay for personnel expenses if the member so chooses. In 2011 this allowance averaged $ 1.4 million per member, and ranged from $ 1.35 to $ 1.67 million. The Personnel allowance was $ 944,671 per member in 2010. Each member may employ no more than 18 permanent employees. Members' employees' salary
3375-422: A site like YouTube supporting user-generated content "would just go dark immediately" to comply with the legislation. Tumblr , one of the first websites active in grassroots activism against the bills, added a feature that "censored" its website on November 16, 2011, and the social media aggregator Reddit also became deeply involved. On November 16, 2011, a first hearing by the U.S. House Judiciary Committee
3510-579: A splash text that said "SOPA means LOSER in Swedish !" Wired magazine's online site used Javascript to place black bars on most of the text on their page, as if the text were redacted. Outside of their key article regarding SOPA/PIPA, readers could remove the bars with a mouse click. The photo-sharing website Flickr created the ability for a registered user to "censor" an unlimited number (up from an initial limit of ten) of photos. The user-selected photographs were greyed out and included informational text, as
3645-460: A statement saying "GoDaddy will support it when and if the Internet community supports it." CEO Warren Adelman stated when asked, that he couldn't commit to changing GoDaddy's position on the record in Congress, but said "I'll take that back to our legislative guys, but I agree that's an important step," when pressed, he said "We're going to step back and let others take leadership roles." Further outrage
3780-471: A tactical withdrawal allowing reintroduction at a later stage and ignoring other concerns as well as provisions in PIPA, and evidence that the bill had not been understood or checked by its own creators and that proposals for a blackout were gaining impact. Momentum for the protests continued unchanged since the bills had merely been postponed, and due to their other contentious provisions. On November 16, 2011, SOPA
3915-462: A two-year term, with no term limit. In most states, major party candidates for each district are nominated in partisan primary elections , typically held in spring to late summer. In some states, the Republican and Democratic parties choose their candidates for each district in their political conventions in spring or early summer, which often use unanimous voice votes to reflect either confidence in
4050-722: A voice in committees, and can introduce bills on the floor, but cannot vote on the ultimate passage of bills. Presently, the District of Columbia and the five inhabited U.S. territories each elect a delegate. A seventh delegate, representing the Cherokee Nation , has been formally proposed but has not yet been seated. An eighth delegate, representing the Choctaw Nation is guaranteed by treaty but has not yet been proposed. Additionally, some territories may choose to also elect shadow representatives , though these are not official members of
4185-406: Is a real problem, which is that foreigners continue to steal the hard work of Americans." Former U.S. Senator and MPAA Director Chris Dodd stated that the coordinated shutdown was "also an abuse of power given the freedoms these companies enjoy in the marketplace today." Dick Costolo , CEO of social networking site Twitter , rejected calls for Twitter to join the protest, tweeting that "[c]losing
Protests against SOPA and PIPA - Misplaced Pages Continue
4320-440: Is calculated based on three components: one for personnel, one for official office expenses and one for official or franked mail. The personnel allowance is the same for all members; the office and mail allowances vary based on the members' district's distance from Washington, D.C., the cost of office space in the member's district, and the number of non-business addresses in their district. These three components are used to calculate
4455-662: Is no charge for outpatient care if it is provided in the National Capital Region , but members are billed at full reimbursement rates (set by the Department of Defense) for inpatient care. (Outside the National Capital Region, charges are at full reimbursement rates for both inpatient and outpatient care). House members are eligible for a Member's Representational Allowance (MRA) to support them in their official and representational duties to their district. The MRA
4590-468: Is no legislation at the federal level mandating one particular system for elections to the House, systems are set at the state level. As of 2022, first-past-the-post or plurality voting is used in 46 states, electing 412 representatives, ranked-choice or instant-runoff voting in two states (Alaska and Maine), electing 3 representatives, and two-round system in two states (Georgia and Louisiana), electing 20 representatives. Elected representatives serve
4725-529: Is occasionally abbreviated as either "MOC" or "MC" (similar to MP ). However, the abbreviation "Rep." for Representative is more common, as it avoids confusion as to whether they are a member of the House or the Senate . All members of Congress are automatically enrolled in the Federal Employees Retirement System , a pension system also used for federal civil servants , except the formula for calculating Congress members' pension results in
4860-545: Is referred to as the "upper" house, and the House of Representatives as the "lower" house. Since December 2014, the annual salary of each representative is $ 174,000, the same as it is for each member of the Senate . The speaker of the House and the majority and minority leaders earn more: $ 223,500 for the speaker and $ 193,400 for their party leaders (the same as Senate leaders). A cost-of-living-adjustment (COLA) increase takes effect annually unless Congress votes not to accept it. Congress sets members' salaries; however,
4995-633: Is sure to spend decades in court challenges." It was similarly claimed that, "any US consumer who uses a website overseas immediately gives the US jurisdiction the power to potentially take action against it." On October 28, 2011, the EFF called the bill a "massive piece of job-killing Internet regulation," and said, "This bill cannot be fixed; it must be killed." Gary Shapiro, CEO of the Consumer Electronics Association , stated that "The bill attempts
5130-504: Is to have one party govern and the other party watch." The leadership structure of the House also developed during approximately the same period, with the positions of majority leader and minority leader being created in 1899. While the minority leader was the head of the minority party, the majority leader remained subordinate to the speaker. The speakership reached its zenith during the term of Republican Joseph Gurney Cannon , from 1903 to 1911. The speaker's powers included chairmanship of
5265-421: Is to pass some version in both houses (so called companion bills ), then refer the two bills to a conference committee , which would produce a single bill likely to pass both houses. These bills were motivated by concerns of copyright holders that their copyright protection in being undermined by the illegal dissemination of copyrighted information via the Internet. Opponents of the proposed legislation say that
5400-571: Is unconstitutional and districts must be approximately equal in population (see Wesberry v. Sanders ). Additionally, Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act of 1965 prohibits redistricting plans that are intended to, or have the effect of, discriminating against racial or language minority voters. Aside from malapportionment and discrimination against racial or language minorities, federal courts have allowed state legislatures to engage in gerrymandering to benefit political parties or incumbents. In
5535-414: Is unique in that it holds an all-party primary election on the general Election Day with a subsequent runoff election between the top two finishers (regardless of party) if no candidate received a majority in the primary. The states of Washington and California use a similar (though not identical) system to that used by Louisiana. Seats vacated during a term are filled through special elections , unless
Protests against SOPA and PIPA - Misplaced Pages Continue
5670-544: The American Political Science Association , only about 40 seats, less than 10% of the House membership, are chosen through a genuinely contested electoral process, given partisan gerrymandering. Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution sets three qualifications for representatives. Each representative must: (1) be at least twenty-five (25) years old; (2) have been a citizen of the United States for
5805-790: The District of Columbia and the U.S. territories of Guam , the U.S. Virgin Islands , the Commonwealth of the Northern Mariana Islands , and American Samoa . A non-voting Resident Commissioner, serving a four-year term, represents the Commonwealth of Puerto Rico . As of the 2020 census , the largest delegation was California , with 52 representatives. Six states have only one representative apiece : Alaska , Delaware , North Dakota , South Dakota , Vermont , and Wyoming . The House meets in
5940-550: The Electronic Frontier Foundation , a petition at Google recorded over 4.5 million signatures, Twitter recorded at least 2.4 million SOPA-related tweets, and lawmakers collected "more than 14 million names—more than 10 million of them voters—who contacted them to protest" the bills. During and after the January protest, a number of politicians who had previously supported the bills expressed concerns with
6075-541: The English Misplaced Pages , to temporarily close or interrupt their content and redirect users to a message opposing the proposed legislation. Websites such as Google , Reddit , Mozilla , and Flickr soon featured protests against the acts. Some shut down completely, while others kept some or all of their content accessible. According to Fight for the Future, more than 115,000 websites joined the Internet protest. In addition to
6210-702: The Federal Employees Health Benefits Program (FEHBP), an employer-sponsored health insurance program, and were eligible to participate in other programs, such as the Federal Flexible Spending Account Program (FSAFEDS). However, Section 1312(d)(3)(D) of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (ACA) provided that the only health plans that the federal government can make available to members of Congress and certain congressional staff are those created under
6345-468: The Senate being the upper chamber . Together, they compose the national bicameral legislature of the United States . The House is charged with the passage of federal legislation , known as bills ; those that are also passed by the Senate are sent to the president for signature or veto . The House's exclusive powers include initiating all revenue bills, impeaching federal officers, and electing
6480-629: The Twenty-seventh Amendment to the United States Constitution prohibits a change in salary (but not COLA ) from taking effect until after the next election of the whole House. Representatives are eligible for retirement benefits after serving for five years. Outside pay is limited to 15% of congressional pay, and certain types of income involving a fiduciary responsibility or personal endorsement are prohibited. Salaries are not for life, only during active term. Representatives use
6615-450: The Uniform Congressional District Act , sit in single member congressional districts allocated to each state on the basis of population as measured by the United States census , with each district having at least a single representative, provided that that state is entitled to them. Since its inception in 1789, all representatives have been directly elected. Although suffrage was initially limited, it gradually widened, particularly after
6750-831: The United States Senate in the last quarter of 2011. Both are responses to the problem of enforcement of U.S. laws against websites outside U.S. jurisdiction. While the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA) and other existing laws have generally been considered effective against illegal content or activities on U.S.-based sites, action is more difficult against overseas websites. SOPA and PIPA proposed to rectify this by cutting off infringing sites from their U.S.-based funding (particularly advertising ), payment processors , appearances on search engines , and visibility on web browsers , instead. Major providers of all these services are predominantly U.S.-based. Notably,
6885-508: The Misplaced Pages community , free software authors, free speech organizations, lawmakers, and other websites and organizations, as well as members of the public using their services. They generally identified two main areas of severe side-effects: (1) effects on Internet websites, communities and user-generated content, and (2) effects on critically fundamental internet architecture and security: Google 's policy director, Bob Boorstin, stated that
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#17328514400147020-676: The president if a presidential candidate fails to get a majority of the Electoral College votes. Both House and Senate confirmation is now required to fill a vacancy if the vice presidency is vacant, according to the provisions of the Twenty-fifth Amendment . The Senate and House are further differentiated by term lengths and the number of districts represented: the Senate has longer terms of six years, fewer members (currently one hundred, two for each state), and (in all but seven delegations) larger constituencies per member. The Senate
7155-556: The size of the House states: "The Number of Representatives shall not exceed one for every thirty Thousand, but each State shall have at Least one Representative." Congress regularly increased the size of the House to account for population growth until it fixed the number of voting House members at 435 in 1911. In 1959, upon the admission of Alaska and Hawaii , the number was temporarily increased to 437 (seating one representative from each of those states without changing existing apportionment), and returned to 435 four years later, after
7290-591: The ACA or offered through a health care exchange . The Office of Personnel Management promulgated a final rule to comply with Section 1312(d)(3)(D). Under the rule, effective January 1, 2014, members and designated staff are no longer able to purchase FEHBP plans as active employees. However, if members enroll in a health plan offered through a Small Business Health Options Program (SHOP) exchange, they remain eligible for an employer contribution toward coverage, and members and designated staff eligible for retirement may enroll in
7425-549: The Confederation Congress's sanction to "amend the Articles of Confederation". All states except Rhode Island agreed to send delegates. Congress's structure was a contentious issue among the founders during the convention. Edmund Randolph 's Virginia Plan called for a bicameral Congress: the lower house would be "of the people", elected directly by the people of the United States and representing public opinion , and
7560-590: The Contract did not pass Congress, were vetoed by President Bill Clinton , or were substantially altered in negotiations with Clinton. However, after Republicans held control in the 1996 election , Clinton and the Gingrich-led House agreed on the first balanced federal budget in decades, along with a substantial tax cut. The Republicans held on to the House until 2006 , when the Democrats won control and Nancy Pelosi
7695-922: The ESA's popular E3 convention . In addition to the online blackouts, protests in cities such as New York City, San Francisco, and Seattle were held on January 18 to raise awareness of the two bills. A series of pickets against the bills were held at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow. Two picketers were arrested. The announcement of the blackout was reported worldwide. Media that covered the story included ABC Australia , CBC , BBC , der Spiegel , Le Figaro , Le Monde , Libération , Fox News , The Guardian , Menafn, News Limited , Sky News , The Age , The Hindu , The New York Times , Taipei Times , The Washington Post , The Wall Street Journal , and The Times of India . Several media organizations including The Washington Post , The Guardian , and NPR encouraged
7830-675: The Federal Long Term Care Insurance Program. The Office of the Attending Physician at the U.S. Capitol provides members with health care for an annual fee. The attending physician provides routine exams, consultations, and certain diagnostics, and may write prescriptions (although the office does not dispense them). The office does not provide vision or dental care. Members (but not their dependents, and not former members) may also receive medical and emergency dental care at military treatment facilities. There
7965-581: The Foundation. On January 17, 2012, Jimmy Wales affirmed the results of the community's decision and that the Wikimedia Foundation , which hosts the English Misplaced Pages website, would support the community's decision. He called for a "public uprising" against the proposed legislation, which critics fear would threaten free speech. He added that factors such as funding or donations had not been part of
8100-457: The House and are separate individuals from their official delegates. Representatives and delegates serve for two-year terms, while a resident commissioner (a kind of delegate) serves for four years. A term starts on January 3 following the election in November. The U.S. Constitution requires that vacancies in the House be filled with a special election. The term of the replacement member expires on
8235-409: The House would have women-only spaces following the election of Sarah McBride . Under Article I, Section 2 of the Constitution , seats in the House of Representatives are apportioned among the states by population, as determined by the census conducted every ten years. Each state is entitled to at least one representative, however small its population. The only constitutional rule relating to
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#17328514400148370-546: The November 2011 protests was the outlining in early December of a bipartisan third, alternative, bill with the support of technology companies such as Google and Facebook , which unusually had been posted on the Internet to allow public comment and suggestions in light of the widespread protests related to the SOPA and PIPA bills. It was formally introduced as the Online Protection and Enforcement of Digital Trade Act (OPEN) in
8505-601: The PROTECT IP and Stop Online Piracy bills could have the opposite of the intended impact, by driving users to unregulated, alternative DNS systems, and it could hinder the government from conducting legitimate Internet regulation. They question the constitutionality of both bills, believing they could have potentially disastrous technical consequences and would make US internet law more like the laws of repressive regimes. Both bills provide "nothing more than ex parte proceedings—proceedings at which only one side (the prosecutor or even
8640-429: The SOPA protests were so effective. They converted an argument about justice into real-world political power." Copyright bills in the 2011-2012 United States Congress There were different but similar copyright bills in the 112th United States Congress : The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House of Representatives and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate. A typical route for legislation like this
8775-630: The Senate did not hold the balance of power between North and South during the war. The years of Reconstruction that followed witnessed large majorities for the Republican Party , which many Americans associated with the Union's victory in the Civil War and the ending of slavery. The Reconstruction period ended in about 1877; the ensuing era, known as the Gilded Age , was marked by sharp political divisions in
8910-496: The Senate on December 17 by Senator Ron Wyden and in the House on January 18 by Representative Darrell Issa . It proposed placing enforcement in the hands of the United States International Trade Commission , keeping provisions that targeted payments and advertising for infringing websites, and tightly targeted wording to avoid many other key areas of concern with SOPA and PIPA. Online discussions of
9045-514: The US House of Representatives is older than comparable chambers in Russia and the other G7 nations. Members of Congress are permitted to deduct up to $ 3,000 of living expenses per year incurred while living away from their district or home state. Before 2014, members of Congress and their staff had access to essentially the same health benefits as federal civil servants; they could voluntarily enroll in
9180-558: The US government must be prepared for other governments to follow suit, in service to whatever social policies they believe are important—whether restricting hate speech, insults to public officials, or political dissent." From the other side, the AFL-CIO 's Paul Almeida stated that free speech was not a relevant consideration, because "The First Amendment does not protect stealing goods off trucks." Floyd Abrams said “The Protect IP Act neither compels nor prohibits free speech or communication…
9315-406: The United States, contained measures that could possibly infringe 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 . The move to a formal protest was initiated when Fight for the Future organized thousands of the most popular websites in the world, including
9450-542: The ability of a small number of senior members to obstruct legislation they did not favor. There was also a shift from the 1990s to greater control of the legislative program by the majority party; the power of party leaders (especially the speaker) grew considerably. According to historian Julian E. Zelizer , the majority Democrats minimized the number of staff positions available to the minority Republicans, kept them out of decision-making, and gerrymandered their home districts. Republican Newt Gingrich argued American democracy
9585-442: 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." On January 18, 2012, itself, more than 8 million people looked up their representative on Misplaced Pages, 3 million people emailed Congress to express opposition to the bills, more than 1 million messages were sent to Congress through
9720-521: The ban and access the English Misplaced Pages during the protest. CTV referred to the protest as " a date that will live in ignorance ." Creative America , a coalition representing movie studios, entertainment unions, and television networks, used the blackout to prompt those affected by it to enjoy other forms of entertainment in place of their normal Internet activities; such ads appeared at Times Square in New York City and on various websites. The impact of
9855-401: The banner, by altering URLs, using browser add-ons such as Adblock Plus or Greasemonkey , or interrupting the page from loading completely. The vote formally affected the English Misplaced Pages only, other language editions and Wikimedia projects were left free to decide whether to hold their own protests given the potential worldwide impact of the legislation, with technical support on offer from
9990-504: The bill argued that widespread circumvention of the filtering would be unlikely. The DNS provisions were compared to car door locks, noting that while they aren't foolproof against thieves, we should still use them. A browser plugin called MAFIAAFire Redirector already exists that redirects visitors to an alternative domain when a site's primary domain has been seized. The Mozilla Foundation says that United States Department of Homeland Security (DHS) requested by phone that Mozilla remove
10125-571: The bill becomes law. According to critics, the bill would ban linking to sites deemed offending, even in search results and on services such as Twitter . Many cloud computing and Web hosting services may leave the US to avoid lawsuits. The Motion Picture Association of America claimed the act's effect on business would be slight, noting that at least 16 countries block websites, and the internet still functions in those countries. Denmark, Finland and Italy blocked The Pirate Bay after courts ruled in favor of music and film industry litigation, and
10260-601: The bill sets a high bar in defining when a website or domain is eligible for potential actions by the Attorney General…”. Google chairman Eric Schmidt has stated that the measures called for in the PROTECT IP Act are overly simple solutions to a complex problem, and that the precedent set by pruning DNS entries is bad from the viewpoint of free speech and would be a step toward less permissive Internet environments, such as China's. A group of Law professors said that
10395-562: The bills and stated that "nearly twice that many House members" had done so. During the blackout, libraries at several universities used the outage to remind students that the traditional paper encyclopedias were available for research. Students who grew up turning to the internet to look up information were encouraged to visit the library as an alternative source of information. On Twitter, a joke hashtag #factswithoutWikipedia trended with users posting humorous fake "facts." "Startled" Internet users frustrated or angry at their loss of Misplaced Pages for
10530-404: The bills were too vague and could be used for prior censorship. If WikiLeaks were accused of distributing copyrighted content, U.S. search engines could be served a court order to block search results pointing to WikiLeaks. Requiring search engines to remove links to an entire website altogether due to an infringing page would raise free speech concerns regarding lawful content hosted elsewhere on
10665-461: The bills, and the opportunity to sign a petition to be sent to Congress stating their concerns. The Mozilla Foundation altered the default start page of their Firefox web browser, blacking it out and providing links with more information on the SOPA/PIPA bills and the opposition to them, and to allow users to email their Congressional representatives. Mojang 's bestselling game Minecraft made
10800-413: The blackout action. It is estimated that only less than half the voters were from the United States, which suggests that Misplaced Pages acted as a platform for an international community to express its opinion. The most common rationale expressed by about a fifth of the editors was the sentiment that "SOPA was perceived as a worldwide threat". A majority of editors who opposed the participation were concerned with
10935-558: The blackout included Cheezburger , Craigslist , Boing Boing , A Softer World , Cake Wrecks , Cyanide & Happiness , Demand Progress , Destructoid , Entertainment Consumers Association , Free Press , Failblog , Newgrounds , Good.is , GOG.com , GamesRadar , Internet Archive , Marxists Internet Archive , Jay is Games , Mojang , MoveOn.org , Mozilla , MS Paint Adventures , Rate Your Music , Reddit , Roblox , Oh No They Didn't , Tucows , blip.tv , Tumblr , TwitPic , Twitter , The Oatmeal , VGMusic , Wikia , WordPress ,
11070-503: The collective effort an unprecedented means for upsetting a backroom lobbying effort, and the immediate political efficacy of the widespread online protest was characterised in terms of a sleeping giant having awakened and of a new player being in town. One Silicon Valley lobbyist said the content industry had "a lot to learn," noting that they don't have grassroots support: "There are no Facebook pages to call your congressman to support PIPA and SOPA." The New York Times , which framed
11205-407: The community's considerations, but the matter had arisen as "a principled stand" from the community, and that in his view "our best long-term prospect for Misplaced Pages in terms of our survival... depends on us being principled." He commented on editors' reasons for the decision: Free speech includes the right to not speak. We are a community of volunteers. We have written this thing that we believe to be
11340-549: The coordinated action was generally considered to be significant. Yochai Benkler of the Berkman Center for Internet & Society stated that the January 18 blackout was "a very strong public demonstration to suggest that what historically was seen as a technical system of rules that only influences the content industry has become something more," further adding "You've got millions of citizens who care enough to act. That's not trivial." California House member Darrell Issa called
11475-417: The coordinated shutdown was "an abuse of power given the freedoms these companies enjoy in the marketplace today." Others such as The New York Times saw the protests as "a political coming of age for the tech industry." 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
11610-408: The creation of this kind of thing. Wikimedia Executive Director Sue Gardner posted an announcement of the Foundation's support for the blackout proposal on Wikimedia's blog. The post received over 7000 responses from the general public within the first 24 hours of its posting. The blackout was to run for 24 hours starting at 05:00 UTC ( midnight Eastern Standard Time ) on January 18, 2012. Despite
11745-518: The date that the original member's would have expired. The Constitution permits the House to expel a member with a two-thirds vote. In the history of the United States, only six members have been expelled from the House; in 1861, three were removed for supporting the Confederate states' secession: Democrats John Bullock Clark of Missouri, John William Reid of Missouri, and Henry Cornelius Burnett of Kentucky. Democrat Michael Myers of Pennsylvania
11880-499: The day used Twitter as an outlet; politicians likewise turned to Twitter when overwhelmed by the public communications flood in support of the blackout. CTV News in Canada published a "survival guide" for "getting around the blackout" on their national website, citing Misplaced Pages as the answer to "burning questions such as "Are chinchillas rodents?" and "What does 'rickrolling' mean?" The guide provided detailed instructions on how to circumvent
12015-461: The dynamic, innovative global Internet." The Wikimedia Foundation reported that there were over 162 million visits to the blacked-out version of Misplaced Pages during the 24-hour period, with at least 8 million uses of the site's front page to look up contact information for their U.S. Congressional representatives. The usage of Misplaced Pages's front page increased enormously during the blackout with 17,535,733-page views recorded, compared with 4,873,388 on
12150-432: The electorate. The Democratic Party and Republican Party each held majorities in the House at various times. The late 19th and early 20th centuries also saw a dramatic increase in the power of the speaker of the House . The rise of the speaker's influence began in the 1890s, during the tenure of Republican Thomas Brackett Reed . "Czar Reed", as he was nicknamed, attempted to put into effect his view that "The best system
12285-428: The first Tuesday after the first Monday in November. Pursuant to the Uniform Congressional District Act , representatives must be elected from single-member districts . After a census is taken (in a year ending in 0), the year ending in 2 is the first year in which elections for U.S. House districts are based on that census (with the Congress based on those districts starting its term on the following January 3). As there
12420-615: The freedom of speech protected by the First Amendment." The DNS filtering provisions in the bill "raise serious technical and security concerns" and would "break the Internet", according to whitepaper by five Internet engineers. Other engineers and proponents of the act have called those concerns groundless and without merit. One particular concern expressed by network experts was that hackers would offer workarounds to private users to allow access to government-seized sites, but these workarounds might also jeopardize security by redirecting unsuspecting users to scam websites. Supporters of
12555-539: The incumbent or the result of bargaining in earlier private discussions. Exceptions can result in so-called floor fights—convention votes by delegates, with outcomes that can be hard to predict. Especially if a convention is closely divided, a losing candidate may contend further by meeting the conditions for a primary election. The courts generally do not consider ballot access rules for independent and third party candidates to be additional qualifications for holding office and no federal statutes regulate ballot access. As
12690-439: The influential Rules Committee and the ability to appoint members of other House committees. However, these powers were curtailed in the "Revolution of 1910" because of the efforts of Democrats and dissatisfied Republicans who opposed Cannon's heavy-handed tactics. The Democratic Party dominated the House of Representatives during the administration of President Franklin D. Roosevelt (1933–1945), often winning over two-thirds of
12825-477: The issues raised, but according to The New York Times , it was probably "shelved" following a "flight away from the bill". Opponents of the bills noted that they had been "indefinitely postponed" but cautioned that they were "not dead" and "[would] return". The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) are bills that were introduced into the United States House of Representatives and
12960-564: The land gained during the Mexican–American War . Conflict over slavery and other issues persisted until the Civil War (1861–1865), which began soon after several southern states attempted to secede from the Union. The war culminated in the South's defeat and in the abolition of slavery. All southern senators except Andrew Johnson resigned their seats at the beginning of the war, and therefore
13095-455: The largest ICANN -accredited registrar in the world, known as Move Your Domain Day. The date was later set as December 29, 2011. Popular websites that moved domains included Imgur , the Wikimedia Foundation , and Cheezburger —which stated it would remove over 1,000 domains from GoDaddy if they continued their support of SOPA. On December 23, 2011, GoDaddy withdrew its support for SOPA, releasing
13230-650: The most voting members. Under the Articles of Confederation , the Congress of the Confederation was a unicameral body with equal representation for each state, any of which could veto most actions. After eight years of a more limited confederal government under the Articles, numerous political leaders such as James Madison and Alexander Hamilton initiated the Constitutional Convention in 1787, which received
13365-458: The netizens' revolt in terms of the new economy versus the old economy, headlined the activism as a "political coming of age for the tech industry." James Grimmelmann, an associate professor at New York Law School , opined two months later that "Legal systems are like Soylent Green : they're made out of people. If you want to protect civil liberties using law, you need to get people on your side who share your vision of what law stands for. That's why
13500-519: The new year. Around this time, numerous websites began displaying banners and messages promoting their readerships to contact Congress to stop the progress of the bill, and some websites began to discuss or endorse a possible "Internet blackout" before any vote on SOPA in the House, as a means of further protest. Reddit was the first major site to announce an "Internet blackout" for January 18, 2012, and several other sites shortly followed, coordinating actions for that day. A notable political response to
13635-400: 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 GoDaddy . 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
13770-521: The other (the Senate) would provide equal representation amongst the states. The Constitution was ratified by the requisite number of states (nine out of the 13) in 1788, but its implementation was set for March 4, 1789. The House began work on April 1, 1789, when it achieved a quorum for the first time. During the first half of the 19th century, the House was frequently in conflict with the Senate over regionally divisive issues, including slavery . The North
13905-427: The past seven years; and (3) be (at the time of the election) an inhabitant of the state they represent. Members are not required to live in the districts they represent, but they traditionally do. The age and citizenship qualifications for representatives are less than those for senators . The constitutional requirements of Article I, Section 2 for election to Congress are the maximum requirements that can be imposed on
14040-441: The perceived dissonance between Misplaced Pages's encyclopedic ethos, neutrality and active participation in a political issue (sentiment endorsed by about 4% of the vote participants); only 0.3% of participating editors suggested they support a tougher copyright regime. According to protest organizer Fight for the Future , more than 115,000 websites participated in the protest, including Google and Misplaced Pages. Websites that participated in
14175-469: The plugin, a request with which they have not yet complied. Instead, Mozilla's legal counsel has asked for further information from the DHS, including legal justification for the request. United States House of Representatives Minority (213) Vacant (2) [REDACTED] [REDACTED] The United States House of Representatives is the lower chamber of the United States Congress , with
14310-622: The prefix " The Honorable " before their names. A member of the House is referred to as a representative , congressman , or congresswoman . Representatives are usually identified in the media and other sources by party and state, and sometimes by congressional district, or a major city or community within their district. For example, Democratic representative Nancy Pelosi , who represents California's 11th congressional district within San Francisco , may be identified as "D–California", "D–California–11" or "D–San Francisco". "Member of congress"
14445-494: The president if no candidate receives a majority of votes in the Electoral College . Members of the House serve a fixed term of two years, with each seat up for election before the start of the next Congress. Special elections also occur when a seat is vacated early enough. The House's composition was established by Article One of the United States Constitution . The House is composed of representatives who, pursuant to
14580-496: The previous day. A petition created and linked to by Google recorded over 4.5 million signatures, while the Electronic Frontier Foundation reported that more than 1 million email messages were sent to congressmen through their site during the blackout. MSNBC reported that over 2.4 million Twitter messages about SOPA, PIPA, and the blackouts were made during a 16-hour period on January 18, 2012, by Twitter users including Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg , who had not used
14715-679: The proposals in their existing form, while others withdrew their support entirely. Internationally, "scathing" criticism of the bills was voiced from World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee , as well as the European Commissioner for the Digital Agenda . Some observers were critical of the tactics used; the Boston Herald described the service withdrawals as evidence of "how very powerful these cyber-bullies can be." Motion Picture Association of America Chairman Chris Dodd stated that
14850-501: The proposed remedies are far worse than the problem they are intended to solve. Journalist Rebecca MacKinnon argued that making companies liable for users' actions could have a chilling effect on user-generated sites like YouTube. "The intention is not the same as China’s Great Firewall, a nationwide system of Web censorship, but the practical effect could be similar". The Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF) has warned that Etsy , Flickr and Vimeo all seem likely to shut down if
14985-587: The provisions also involved modifying the Domain Name System , a crucial service that underpins the entire Internet and allows computers to locate each other reliably around the world. Supporters included, but were not limited to, media companies and industry associations such as the Motion Picture Association of America , the Recording Industry Association of America and the Entertainment Software Association . Supporters generally identified
15120-574: The ratification of the Nineteenth Amendment and the civil rights movement . Since 1913, the number of voting representatives has been at 435 pursuant to the Apportionment Act of 1911 . The Reapportionment Act of 1929 capped the size of the House at 435. However, the number was temporarily increased from 1959 until 1963 to 437 following the admissions of Alaska and Hawaii to the Union. In addition, five non-voting delegates represent
15255-500: The reapportionment consequent to the 1960 census . The Constitution does not provide for the representation of the District of Columbia or of territories . The District of Columbia and the territories of Puerto Rico , American Samoa , Guam , the Northern Mariana Islands , and the U.S. Virgin Islands are each represented by one non-voting delegate . Puerto Rico elects a resident commissioner , but other than having
15390-526: The requisite oath to support the Constitution, but later engages in rebellion or aids the enemies of the United States, is disqualified from becoming a representative. This post–Civil War provision was intended to prevent those who sided with the Confederacy from serving. However, disqualified individuals may serve if they gain the consent of two-thirds of both houses of Congress. Elections for representatives are held in every even-numbered year, on Election Day
15525-431: The seats. Both Democrats and Republicans were in power at various times during the next decade. The Democratic Party maintained control of the House from 1955 until 1995. In the mid-1970s, members passed major reforms that strengthened the power of sub-committees at the expense of committee chairs and allowed party leaders to nominate committee chairs. These actions were taken to undermine the seniority system , and to reduce
15660-471: The service since 2009, to encourage his followers to contact their congressmen. Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR) , a key opponent of the bills, said that "lawmakers had collected more than 14 million names — more than 10 million of them voters" to protest the legislation. Time reported that before the day had ended, "the political dominoes began to fall... then trickle turned into flood". It named ten senators who had announced their switch to opposing
15795-412: The site on January 18, 2012, disabling normal reading and editing functions, affirmed in a vote of approximately 1,800 editors. The blocking action was purposely not complete; users could access Misplaced Pages content from the mobile interface or mirror sites, or if they disabled JavaScript or other web browser functions. Within hours of the start of the blackout, many websites posted instructions for disabling
15930-490: The site. proxy servers , such as those used during the Arab Spring , can also be used to thwart copyright enforcement and therefore may be made illegal by the act. The bills could allegedly be used to block any web site with a page that was identified in the U.K. or France as containing hate speech or violations of celebrities' privacy . The Center for Democracy and Technology warned, "If SOPA and PIPA are enacted,
16065-633: The south wing of the United States Capitol . The rules of the House generally address a two-party system, with a majority party in government, and a minority party in opposition. The presiding officer is the Speaker of the House , who is elected by the members thereof. Other floor leaders are chosen by the Democratic Caucus or the Republican Conference , depending on whichever party has
16200-698: The support of delegates from large states such as Virginia , Massachusetts , and Pennsylvania , as it called for representation based on population. The smaller states, however, favored the New Jersey Plan , which called for a unicameral Congress with equal representation for the states. Eventually, the Convention reached the Connecticut Compromise or Great Compromise, under which one house of Congress (the House of Representatives) would provide representation proportional to each state's population, whereas
16335-404: The support of those polled for the action, a small number of Misplaced Pages editors blacked out their own user profile pages or resigned their administrative positions in protest of the blackout; one editor stated his "main concern is that it puts the organization in the role of advocacy, and that's a slippery slope". Approximately 90% out of the 2097 editors who took part in the votes supported joining
16470-615: The system was, in Gingrich's words, "morally, intellectually and spiritually corrupt". Gingrich followed Wright's successor, Democrat Tom Foley , as speaker after the Republican Revolution of 1994 gave his party control of the House. Gingrich attempted to pass a major legislative program, the Contract with America and made major reforms of the House, notably reducing the tenure of committee chairs to three two-year terms. Many elements of
16605-410: The vacancy occurs closer to the next general election date than a pre-established deadline. The term of a member chosen in a special election usually begins the next day, or as soon as the results are certified. Historically, many territories have sent non-voting delegates to the House. While their role has fluctuated over the years, today they have many of the same privileges as voting members, have
16740-503: The webcomic xkcd as well as the corporate site of the Linux distribution openSUSE and the congressional websites of Silicon Valley representatives Anna Eshoo and Zoe Lofgren . Google announced their intention to join the blackout by altering their logo for US visitors for the day, almost entirely obscuring it with an interactive black redaction swath. Clicking through the specially designed logo took readers to an informational page about
16875-486: Was being fast-tracked through the United States Congress under a "misleading title". He stated he was attending high-level meetings on this, and wanted to gauge the sense of the English Misplaced Pages community on the issue, and specifically on the question of a blackout similar to that held successfully in October 2011 by Italian Misplaced Pages editors over the proposed media censorship law in that country: I thought this would be
17010-467: Was being ruined by the Democrats' tactics and that the GOP had to destroy the system before it could be saved. Cooperation in governance, says Zelizer, would have to be put aside until they deposed Speaker Wright and regained power. Gingrich brought an ethics complaint which led to Wright's resignation in 1989. Gingrich gained support from the media and good government forces in his crusade to persuade Americans that
17145-553: Was discussed by the U.S. House Committee on the Judiciary . Tumblr , Mozilla, Techdirt , and the Center for Democracy and Technology were among many Internet companies who protested by participating in 'American Censorship Day', by displaying black banners over their site logos with the words "STOP CENSORSHIP." On December 22, 2011, users at Reddit proposed a boycott and a public day for switching away from then–SOPA supporter GoDaddy ,
17280-505: Was due to the fact that many Internet sites would be subject to shutdowns under SOPA, but GoDaddy is in a narrow class of exempted businesses that would have immunity, whereas many other domain operators would not. On December 26, 2011, a Google bomb was started against GoDaddy to remove them from the No. 1 place on Google for the term "Domain Registration" in retaliation for supporting SOPA. This
17415-435: Was expelled after his criminal conviction for accepting bribes in 1980, Democrat James Traficant of Ohio was expelled in 2002 following his conviction for corruption, and Republican George Santos was expelled in 2023 after he was implicated in fraud by both a federal indictment and a House Ethics Committee investigation. The House also has the power to formally censure or reprimand its members; censure or reprimand of
17550-568: Was made by CrowdFlower . Booz & Company on November 16 released a study, funded by Google , finding that almost all of the 200 venture capitalists and angel investors interviewed would stop funding digital media intermediaries if the House bill becomes law. More than 80 percent said they would rather invest in a risky, weak economy with the current laws than a strong economy with the proposed law in effect. If legal ambiguities were removed and good faith provisions in place, investing would increase by nearly 115 percent. There were concerns that
17685-433: Was marked by online protests involving blackened website banners, popularly described as "American Censorship Day." On December 15, 2011, the first House Judiciary Committee mark-up hearing took place for SOPA, prior to its eventual move to the House floor. During the markup session, several proposed amendments to address technological and other concerns were defeated. The mark-up process was put on hold to be resumed after
17820-479: Was motivated by fears that courts would impose at-large plurality districts on states that did not redistrict to comply with the new mandates for districts roughly equal in population, and Congress also sought to prevent attempts by southern states to use such voting systems to dilute the vote of racial minorities. Several states have used multi-member districts in the past, although only two states (Hawaii and New Mexico) used multi-member districts in 1967. Louisiana
17955-565: Was much more populous than the South , and therefore dominated the House of Representatives. However, the North held no such advantage in the Senate, where the equal representation of states prevailed. Regional conflict was most pronounced over the issue of slavery. One example of a provision repeatedly supported by the House but blocked by the Senate was the Wilmot Proviso , which sought to ban slavery in
18090-443: Was subsequently elected by the House as the first female speaker. The Republicans retook the House in 2011 , with the largest shift of power since the 1930s. However, the Democrats retook the house in 2019 , which became the largest shift of power to the Democrats since the 1970s. In the 2022 elections, Republicans took back control of the House, winning a slim majority. In November 2024, House Speaker Mike Johnson announced that
18225-422: Was then disseminated through Hacker News . Reddit users noted that by December 22, 2011, SOPA supporters were discovering the backlash that could arise from ignoring social media users. Reports up to December 29, 2011 described GoDaddy as "hemorrhaging" customers. On December 25, 2011, (Christmas Day) GoDaddy lost a net 16,191 domains as a result of the boycott. However, on December 29, 2011, itself, GoDaddy gained
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