So what is a real estate brokerage doing writing about a SOPA PIPA petition? Well, it's real simple. We all want to protect our intellectual property, our civil liberties and all the other things that make up our general rights to be creative and prosper and enrich ourselves and others through our intellectual endeavors.

But... we don't want laws on the books that stifle or stop creativity for the sake of satisfying a very small handful of well monied and super lawyered entities. Don't get me wrong. It's absolutely okay to protect your intellectual rights. But it's not okay to use the United States legislative and legal system in a way that goes far beyond what is the protection of music and movies produced by a small but very powerful lobby of companies.

Because of the imprecise and vague nature of the language being used in this legislation it is almost a given that it will be used to manipulate, stifle or stop individuals, business' and other enterprises exercising their creative freedoms. Watch the video clip to better understand what this is about and by all means educate yourself and get involved!

Do you want your website, twitter post, blog or even video of your child censored because of a sound bite on a radio playing in the background? It has already happened!

Here are some links that are very important as well.

Florida legislative activities taking place.

Main website for this movement.

Electronic Frontier Foundation:

Sign Petition at the WHITE HOUSE:

Update:

Below is the contents of an email sent out by the folks over at Fight for the future.org...

Things are moving the right direction and the below email confirms that we need to keep pushing!

Contents of email follow:

Today was nuts, right?

Google launched a petition.  Wikipedia voted to shut itself off.  Senators' websites went down just from the sheer surge of voters trying to write them.   NYC and SF geeks had protests that packed city blocks.

You made history today: nothing like this has ever happened before.  Tech companies and users teamed up.  Tens of millions of people who make the internet what it is joined together to defend their freedoms.  The free network defended itself.  Whatever you call it, the bottom line is clear: from today forward, it will be muchharder to mess up the internet.

The really crazy part?  We might even win.

Approaching Monday's crucial Senate vote there are now 35 Senators publicly opposing PIPA.  Last week there were 5.   And it just takes just 41 solid "no" votes to permanently stall PIPA (and SOPA) in the Senate.  What seemed like miles away a few weeks ago is now within reach.

But don't trust predictions.  The forces behind SOPA & PIPA (mostly movie companies) can make small changes to these bills until they know they have the votes to pass.  Members of Congress know SOPA & PIPA are unpopular, but they don't understand why--so they're easily duped by superficial changes.  The Senate returns next week, and the next few days are critical.  Here are two things to think about:

1. Plan on calling your Senator every day next week.  Pick up the phone each morning and call your Senators' offices, until they vote "no" on cloture.  If your site participated today, consider running a "Call the Senate" link all next week.

2. Tomorrow, drop in at your Senators' district offices.  We don't have a cool map widget to show you the offices nearest you (we're too exhausted! any takers?).  So do it the old fashioned way: use Google, or the phonebook to find the address, and just walk in, say you oppose PIPA, and urge the Senator to vote "no" on cloture.  These drop-in visits make our spectacular online protests more tangible and credible.

That's it for now. Be proud and stay on it!

--Holmes, Tiffiniy, and the whole Fight for the Future team.

___

P.S. Huge credit goes to participants in the 11/16 American Censorship Day protest: Mozilla, 4chan, BoingBoing, Tumblr, TGWTG, and thousands of others.  That's what got this ball rolling!  Reddit, both the community and the team behind it, you're amazing.  And of course, thanks to the Wikimedians whose patient and inexorable pursuit of the right answer brought them to take world-changing action. Thanks to David S, David K, Cory D, and E Stark for bold action at critical times.

P.P.S. If you haven't already, show this video to as many people as you can. It works!http://fightforthefuture.org/pipa/

End Contents of Email:

Get informed and get involved! 

Sopa Pipa Petition is working!

Another Update:

The SOPA Pipa petition worked and the legislation it was meant to confront has been stopped in it's tracks! It's amazing what people can do when they put their minds together on something clear cut and straight forward.

Something new on the Horizon ACTA:

Acta is another similar piece of language being negotiated between countries to help defend against counter-fitting and copying of various things related to the protections of a companies business model and products on an international stage. What is worrisome is the manner in which this new mechanism or entity is being put in place and some of the unstated and somewhat secretive aspects of IP (Intellectual Property) protections being proffered that strike a very similar note to what SOPA PIPA was really about.

As always, educate yourself. Learn more and ask for transparency in those things that matter most in our daily digital lives.

the EFF has a good information page to learn more. Click HERE to learn more from them about ACTA or also click HERE.