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Craig Newmark: Could SOPA, PIPA Protest Prompt An “Internet Spring”?

Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist.org and SOPA protester, may have christened yesterday’s massive protest against SOPA and PIPA with a tweet he posted earlier today: @craignewmarkcraignewmark...
Craig Newmark: Could SOPA, PIPA Protest Prompt An “Internet Spring”?
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  • Craig Newmark, founder of craigslist.org and SOPA protester, may have christened yesterday’s massive protest against SOPA and PIPA with a tweet he posted earlier today:

    Are we seeing an Internet Awakening? http://t.co/CYbrXQBE (similar in sentiment to @jeffjarvis and @Mlsif) http://t.co/vwK1MgJO 27 minutes ago via TweetDeck · powered by @socialditto

    The first link included in his tweet takes you to a post he wrote over on his blog at craigconnects:

    People have asked me about the whole SOPA thing, how bad a law it could be.

    Sure, SOPA and PIPA are really destructive, potentially damaging US competitiveness and genuinely killing jobs. However, there’s some good news associated with the reaction to the bad law, news that we’re missing.

    As an industry, we’ve been able to rationalize that bad laws and politics don’t matter, but now we’re waking up. More importantly, this has also gotten the attention of “the Internet,” meaning a lot of the people who use the Net. That includes some really smart Hill staffers who believe in the democratic potential of the Net.

    It’s taken some really bad potential laws, but it’s roused the sleeping giant, both the people who build the Internet, and people in general who comprise the Internet community.

    Maybe a mixed metaphor, but this might be a genie that can’t be put back into the bottle. I’m hoping that we’re seeing an Internet Spring leading to an Internet Awakening.

    So that may be it: The Internet Spring. The Internet Awakening (although that’s a little too similar to The Great Awakening, so I vote we stay away from that one). Anybody else got any suggestions for what to call this movement?

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