8 ms·

Tell congress to stop SOPA with a physical letter

594 points by colevscode 15y ago

possibilistic 15y ago
I know this doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of happening, but I wager if Google, Facebook, etc. were to shut down their websites for an entire day--or even part of a day--that congress would get the picture. Give the entire Internet a blank page stating simply and concisely what is at stake. Just imagine the deluge of calls.
ubasu 15y ago
This is great action on the part of SendWrite. One suggestion: since you ask for the sender's home address anyway, why not use that to scrape the contactcongress website to automatically fill in their representatives?
- colevscode 15y ago
  Would love to do that. We wanted to get this out the door quickly. If it is popular we'll see about improving the UI. Thanks!
  - danielsoneg 15y ago
    Sunlight Labs has an API that'll do it by zip code: http://services.sunlightlabs.com/docs/Sunlight_Congress_API/ http://services.sunlightlabs.com/docs/Sunlight_Congress_API/ They've got libraries for Ruby, Python, and even PHP, and the interface is drop-dead simple. Definitely worth a look - I'm baking them into one of my projects right now.
    - colevscode 15y ago
      This could have saved us a lot of time. Thanks!
      - chimeracoder 15y ago
        This is amazing. Some years ago, I wanted to build a site that did essentially the same thing (but for a different issue), and this API either didn't exist or wasn't complete/accurate enough. It's remarkable how much power the web has to effect political change - seems like we're only seeing the beginning of it. ...that is, unless SOPA passes, in which case this may be as good as it gets....
- petec 15y ago
  If people don't want to waste paper, you can also check out popvox.com or votizen.com. Both allow for electronic communication with Congress.
alecbenzer 15y ago
> Don't know who is your local representative? I believe that should read "Don't know who your local representative is?", no?
daguar 15y ago
Does any advocacy group (EFF, etc) have info on who the key swing/undecided/"marginal" votes are? Knowing that we could try and focus dissemination of this to people in those districts.
- lr 15y ago
  You do mention "focus dissemination of this to people in those districts", and that is key, because unless a Representative/Senator is the head of a committee, an email/letter/etc., from outside of their district is completely discarded. Also, if you are not registered to vote, your comment goes in the waste bin, too. Trust me, I know plenty of people who work or have worked in various legislative bodies, and the first thing they do when they get contacted by a "constituent" is check to see if they are registered to vote in their district. If not, then the message falls on deaf ears.
MBlume 15y ago
Thanks for this =)
danielsoneg 15y ago
I was briefly skeptical, but on reflection, I like this for three reasons: First, email just doesn't work for contacting Congress. They get entirely too much, and it's entirely too easy to get lost in the pile. It's the preferred means of communication for most of us on HN, but it's just not effective outside our industry. Phone is better, but there's nothing quite like flooding someone's office with paper to convey the will of the electorate. Second, SendWrite is one of the companies that would be hurt by the bill - being able to generate volume like this shows the reach and effectiveness of their lobbying efforts. Sacks of cash are the backup currency of Congress - Votes are still the coin of the realm. Finally, you guys are putting your cash on the line for this - that's a powerful statement, and I applaud you for doing so.
- OstiaAntica 15y ago
  Email works better, actually. All of Congress uses web forms that categorize and route the messages directly to their CRM systems. So it is easy for them to tally and respond. Mail, on the other hand, has to get irradiated for bioterror and takes 4-6 weeks to arrive. The letters are made brittle and staff dislike handling them, and they have to be typed or scanned into the office CRM.
  - lwat 15y ago
    Actually from your description it sounds like letters are the way to go.
  - chimeracoder 15y ago
    Congress uses multipliers to figure out how predictive each piece of communication is (ie, how likely it is that a certain piece of communication will result in a change in voting behavior). I don't remember the exact numbers, but the hierarchy goes (in descending order): in-person visit to DC office, in-person visit to local office, physical handwritten letter, physical typed letter, phone call, email. The multiplier attached to email is close to zero. (The exact method varies by congressman/senator, but the relative rankings are the same throughout).
nomdeplume 15y ago
Is this when they slip in another bill that does something even worse? While we are inundated with the news of this bill?
sev 15y ago
Great idea! I hope everyone uses this service as soon as possible.
alexholehouse 15y ago
This is great. What's the cashflow situation here - how many donations will you/do you need (I'm aware this is obviously demand dependent, but I'm just intrigued about the general situation)
chrischen 15y ago
Really nice of you to have made this free. I would have paid! I wouldn't have sent this if not for sendwrite, just because the cost for me to type, print, stamp, and mail an envelope is too high.
- duncanj 15y ago
  Individual postal letters have considerably more influence than form e-mails, but I don't know what category these letters would be placed in. I worry that a letter that is sent from an automated website might not carry as much weight as putting your own letter in an envelope, handwriting the address, and sending it out from your zip code. Supposedly, the constituent contacts that carry the most weight are in-person visits to the congressperson's office, contacts from people authorized to represent groups of constituents (like mayors), individual letters that are not copied from a form, and individual phone calls that are not read from a script. If anyone has a reason to be in Washington, calling the office of your congressperson and scheduling a meeting with their staff during that time will be very helpful, especially if your congressperson is on a relevant committee, in this case the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.
- frossie 15y ago
  I would have paid! For those who have yet to do it, I should point out that there is a PayPal donate button to support this effort that you are shown after submission of your entry. Send cards to all your representatives, then send those nice folk a couple of bucks to cover the postage at least.
  - xymostech 15y ago
    I actually signed up for SendWrite before, but didn't really want to spend money on sending letters from the internet. However, I've now donated $5 because of the selfless thing they are doing. Thanks to everyone at SendWrite for doing this, hopefully it will help!
- reedlaw 15y ago
  I actually expected a paywall but was pleasantly surprised to see only a donate button. I hope that works out just as well for them.
mschwar99 15y ago
Its really great of you guys to offer this service on your own dime - thank you. Its also very shrewd marketing, and I hope it pays off for you.
kschults 15y ago
Thanks for a great tool. A suggestion: I'd like to be able to send a letter to all of my representatives and senators at once, instead of having to fill out the form multiple times.
- mmmmax 15y ago
  that might get expensive for SendWrite...
  - thyrsus 15y ago
    Sendwrite's normal charge for 20 cards is $39.80. I sent three cards (two Senators, 1 representative), and donated to cover at least that.
dschobel 15y ago
Nice work guys. Thank you for doing this.
sscheper 15y ago
Just completed/sent a letter via your link and donated afterwords (and I rarely donate). Nice work.
jeremyarussell 15y ago
I sent mine off a bit ago, thanks a ton for doing this. Here's to making a difference.
bpowah 15y ago
I absolutely love the idea. I cant remember where I read it or heard it, but physical letters do get much more attention. Nothing against SendWrite, but I think even more attention can be gained via distinctive-looking enveloped letters that need to be cut open and unfolded. A stack of similar-looking postcards will have an impact in terms of volume, but will likely be sorted into a bin and never read. If you have the time and have extra company logo-ed envelopes, please consider sending one by hand as well.
- colevscode 15y ago
  Thanks! Just to clarify, SendWrite letters are mailed in an envelope, so each one will need to be opened. Also we deliberately didn't use a pre-written letter as a template. The result is that the letters we have received are very unique.
  - dhimes 15y ago
    Damnit! Great idea, but I HATE it when on-screen text is not user-selectable. I want to take your on-screen address and put it on my own envelope. GRRRRRRR!! Great idea, though. Thank you.
dev1n 15y ago
Thank you for making this a free letter.
epi0Bauqu 15y ago
I'd love to send people to this site, but I worry people who have never heard of the bill won't know what is going on. Can you embed the explanation video or point to or something? Edit: I see you just did. Thx! I just linked to it on DuckDuckGo as well as donated and sent my letter. Thanks again.
- mikesabat 15y ago
  How insane is it that you have 12k karma, have no problem commenting on js, ruby, jquery, mongo or even css... but you're worried about people not understanding this bill. NOT a comment about you, epi08, but just commentary about what matters. If you haven't called your congressperson about this, then you don't care. period.
  - ericd 15y ago
    Putting a notice on a site trafficked by 10's of thousands per day like DDG is a lot more powerful than calling... Everyone with a site, please do this. I've put it on PadMapper.
- mgcross 15y ago
  I'm more comfortable sharing the EFF 'opposition' post from yesterday. It's full of quotes that outline the concerns to friends and family that just won't understand or care about 'DNS'. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/11/explosion-opposition-internet-blacklist-bill https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/11/explosion-opposition-i...
gus_massa 15y ago
The names in the DropDownList Control are invisible in IE8: http://imgur.com/7UIbT http://imgur.com/7UIbT
curiousepic 15y ago
Upvote this on Reddit for more volume: http://www.reddit.com/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsendwrite.com%2Fsopa%2F http://www.reddit.com/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsendwrite.com...
coreyrecvlohe 15y ago
Great idea, just sent letters to both of my Senators.
101000101 15y ago
If you are really serious about taking a stand on this bill, then the most impact will achieved by going to the source of it, not Congress... unless you have more to offer Congress' incumbents and the nation's economy than the industry source does. They are a very important constituent. If a large number of consumers stopped purchasing a certain entertainment company's products for one day, would it have a noticeable impact on their revenues? How about a week? A month? The industry claims it's losing business to pirates. While it's probably true to some extent, it is speculative and nearly impossible to measure accurately. How many of the consumers of pirated content were never consumers of paid content to begin with? The products this industry sells are not life necessities. In summary, a branded entertainment "hunger strike" by actual existing, paid customers. This would cause real loss. And, if it's a noticeable loss, it would send a very strong message. Good luck.
gourneau 15y ago
Thanks guys! I donated a small amount, hopefully it will pay for my letters.
prawn 15y ago
Have always wondered if an online service for political mailings like this couldn't introduce some randomness to the opening, key statements and closing (Sincerely, Regards, etc) and varying the layout and style so they don't look too much like they were cranked out with the push of a button.
traldan 15y ago
Not that I don't want to support you guys for doing something awesome like this, but I wish the "Like" button showed appropriate meta-content on my facebook wall, instead of just a generic description of SendWrite. Also, donated. :)
dylangs1030 15y ago
This is a great idea. I'm sending in mail through this. Not everyone has the luxury of literally stopping by in person, but this is a fantastic alternative. I love this, though I've held back on commenting on SOPA until now. One of the frequent comments on SOPA I see is that the original founders behind the internet believed it should be free and unregulated. While I agree, once you introduce capitalism to the internet, as most companies have, you cannot let it be entirely unregulated. What is happening in the internet now is the same process that occurred directly after the industrial revolution - first there were completely unregulated, grievous abuses in the industry. The entertainment industry is attempting to regulate the flow of information and "capital" in the same way the government had to go "trust buster" on the industrial sectors in the last two centuries. However, while this is all good and well, as the side video explains, they already have protocols for doing this. They don't need any more methods of stopping piracy and the like. They should shift their attention to different ways of raising capital and earning revenue. The system they have isn't working, but erring on the side of regulation instead of erring on the side of libertarianism is still erring. There needs to be a comfortable balance, and SOPA does not make such a balance - it tips the scales in favor of the entertainment industry, and that is the last sector of the United States the internet should be supervised and moderated by.
sehugg 15y ago
There's also Apple's new Cards app. I'm going through my cat pictures now.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
riordan 15y ago
Here's the problem: after the 2001 anthrax scare, all mail sent to Congress has become incredibly delayed (on the order of weeks) while it gets tested and radiated. What some lobbying campaigns have done to get around this is send mass faxes to congressional offices overnight. It's like having access to someone else's office printer and that person has 1/538th of control over the federal government. The takeaway is, unless these letters are hand delivered, I doubt theyll reach their intended recipients in time.
- draebek 15y ago
  This is the second or third time I've read the problem of postal mail to congresspeople in these comments. I really like what SendWrite is doing here, but what riordan and others have said here rings true to me. Are they going to get my mail weeks after it mattered?
flexterra 15y ago
Thanks!
jneal 15y ago
Thanks for this. I wrote my letter and probably wouldn't have done so without the help of this website. This is one of the first times that a bill has come up that I feel so strongly against. If this thing becomes law, we'll all refer to the internet "before" and "after" this moment. I certainly hope it never comes to be.
yeison 15y ago
This is awesome, but the bill will be on the House floor tomorrow.
billpatrianakos 15y ago
I'm impressed. SendWrite is doing good while promoting themselves and it makes an awesome first impression. I never thought of using them before. I never even visited the site, just heard of them and generally got the idea of what they do. I think I may use them now! I'm actually looking for an excuse!
jjacobson 15y ago
Donated, tweeted, emailed, sent the letter, etc. Cole is a baller.
wallawe 15y ago
Although I applaud the efforts here, as a former staffer and intern for a congressman, I hate to be the bearer of bad news... The truth is my job as an intern, as was the job of all other interns that I met while in DC, was to take constituent calls and also open constituent mail. However, no information was ever actually relayed to the congressmen. We had a formatted response to each and every issue that the House could possibly vote on. Everything from internet poker, to any issue you could imagine. We would print out (and alter if necessary) the response to tailor it to the individual that called, emailed, or wrote a physical letter. The congressman's signature was stamped at the bottom of the letter and sent back to the constituent, giving the allusion of due diligence on the congressman's part. I was extremely surprised and disappointed at the same time at how commonplace this was. Pretty much every intern I asked about it went through the same drill. It's just another thing about our government and "representative democracy" that really irked me. So whenever I see ads urging people to call or write their congressman, I think back to this and realize further how powerless we really are. The best way to exert influence over your congressman is to donate lots of money and become a memorable name that can get in contact with the actual representative him/herself. Hell, that's how I got the internship. This is one of the reasons I sympathize with the OWS movement.
- billpatrianakos 15y ago
  I'm cynical on government too but don't you think that if enough people contact them somehow and theres a clear majority view that somehow the official get the message and that sways them just a bit? Am I still being too naive or is it really truly nothing but money money money that gets them to do anything?
  - wallawe 15y ago
    You are correct. I worked for a conservative congressman and he knew his constituents and what they wanted for the most part. It's not hard if your state leans hard to either side of the spectrum. And in his defense, if he took every call and letter into account, he would never have time to do anything else. But at the same time, what about those that have a differing opinion from the majority and have a good point to be made? Shouldn't everyone's opinion be heard? And what about states whose constituents are closer to the center? It's a difficult situation to say the least.
switz 15y ago
Very great for sendwrite to do this. Not only will it protect their business, but it's a great marketing tool.
mceachen 15y ago
I just submitted my letters to my representatives (and donated, thanks Cole!) To hit up your reps with different communication channels, http://www.contactingthecongress.org http://www.contactingthecongress.org has voice, fax, and web forms.
yoshyosh 15y ago
Perhaps someone can change the facebook link at the top to a share or a recommend link. Those show up in feeds whereas likes only show up on your wall.
lflux 15y ago
Looks great, but I can't set an international return address without a state. I'm a registered voter in the US, but haven't been a resident for a long time. Guess I'll just email my rep.
padobson 15y ago
Sent. From my letter: H.R.3261, the 'Stop Online Piracy Act', is going to be the Volstead Act of the 21st Century. Like Prohibition, creating draconian laws like these to stop online piracy is going to do two things: 1) destroy respectable businesses that thrive on user-generated content and 2) drastically increase the number of pirates online by expanding its definition, and in doing so, massively expand online piracy. SOPA will literally create a generation of internet bootleggers.
pizza_lover 15y ago
hi all, as a chinese, let me explain what's the situation in China. maybe you already know we have a similar censorship system called GFW(the Great FireWall of China). when the government don't want we to see the truth of something, or something may be a threat to them，they will ban it incruely, sometimes they even do it in the name of "for the children" or "for the harmony society" or give their version of totally-bullshit “truth”. besides the baning of website, they also have some people take salaries from government and speak for the government in every forum when scandals of government officials burn out.and when scandals burns out government also send orders to every website, every press to stop talk and publishing on the scandals, the reason they give is "for the harmony of society" or "don't be mislead by the media in US and Euro" :D what's more almost every big website/application in china has employees either hired by government or hired by website/software-company to censor the users' activities, including QQ(biggest IM in china, just like MSN), Youku & Tudou(biggest two video site, like youtube), renren(biggest SNS in china, like facebook), baidu(biggest search engine in china, like google).if you said something bad to the government, your words must be deleted, what was worse, there used to be 2 men chatting using QQ, and the owner of QQ--Tencent Compang--give their chats record to the police ACTIVELY, and the result is the 2 men was sent to prison. so if you allow your congress to pass SOPA, you know what would happen to you all.
steauengeglase 15y ago
Just a bit of advice from back when I was sending letters over the DMCA. If your congressman is supporting the bill, don't bother. My Senator at the time was Fritz Hollings; came from a poor district, so he was dependent on a lot of outside contributions. I recall Disney being one of his largest contributors. I received a response 3 months after it passed that more or less told me I was a enemy of commerce. I won't lie, I was a little shocked to get back such a pointed letter when I was as courteous and respectful as possible. I learned my lesson from that one. You can send a letter to anyone and generally it is a great idea, but if they get a dime from your position's opposition, it is just pissing in the wind. It's just business.
lukejduncan 15y ago
Is this a one off website or based on some framework? This seems like a very powerfully general purpose advocacy tool.
shmeeps 15y ago
Filled out one for each of my representatives and senators, and also made a small donation. I may not be able to do much, but I'll be damned if I don't do anything.
dan_illustrate 15y ago
My Congressman and Senator here in Massachusettsmust understand the ramifications of this bill and protect the individual's citizen from corporate and government control of the internet. They must be educated and read up on this abrogation of civil rights and government protected and constitutionally guaranteed free speech and discourse. Dan Osterman, Boston
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

594 points by colevscode 15y ago

I know this doesn't have a snowball's chance in hell of happening, but I wager if Google, Facebook, etc. were to shut down their websites for an entire day--or even part of a day--that congress would get the picture. Give the entire Internet a blank page stating simply and concisely what is at stake. Just imagine the deluge of calls.

ubasu 15y ago

This is great action on the part of SendWrite. One suggestion: since you ask for the sender's home address anyway, why not use that to scrape the contactcongress website to automatically fill in their representatives?

colevscode 15y ago
Would love to do that. We wanted to get this out the door quickly. If it is popular we'll see about improving the UI. Thanks!
- danielsoneg 15y ago
  Sunlight Labs has an API that'll do it by zip code: http://services.sunlightlabs.com/docs/Sunlight_Congress_API/ http://services.sunlightlabs.com/docs/Sunlight_Congress_API/ They've got libraries for Ruby, Python, and even PHP, and the interface is drop-dead simple. Definitely worth a look - I'm baking them into one of my projects right now.
  - colevscode 15y ago
    This could have saved us a lot of time. Thanks!
    - chimeracoder 15y ago
      This is amazing. Some years ago, I wanted to build a site that did essentially the same thing (but for a different issue), and this API either didn't exist or wasn't complete/accurate enough. It's remarkable how much power the web has to effect political change - seems like we're only seeing the beginning of it. ...that is, unless SOPA passes, in which case this may be as good as it gets....
petec 15y ago
If people don't want to waste paper, you can also check out popvox.com or votizen.com. Both allow for electronic communication with Congress.

alecbenzer 15y ago

> Don't know who is your local representative? I believe that should read "Don't know who your local representative is?", no?

daguar 15y ago

Does any advocacy group (EFF, etc) have info on who the key swing/undecided/"marginal" votes are? Knowing that we could try and focus dissemination of this to people in those districts.

lr 15y ago
You do mention "focus dissemination of this to people in those districts", and that is key, because unless a Representative/Senator is the head of a committee, an email/letter/etc., from outside of their district is completely discarded. Also, if you are not registered to vote, your comment goes in the waste bin, too. Trust me, I know plenty of people who work or have worked in various legislative bodies, and the first thing they do when they get contacted by a "constituent" is check to see if they are registered to vote in their district. If not, then the message falls on deaf ears.

MBlume 15y ago

Thanks for this =)

danielsoneg 15y ago

I was briefly skeptical, but on reflection, I like this for three reasons: First, email just doesn't work for contacting Congress. They get entirely too much, and it's entirely too easy to get lost in the pile. It's the preferred means of communication for most of us on HN, but it's just not effective outside our industry. Phone is better, but there's nothing quite like flooding someone's office with paper to convey the will of the electorate. Second, SendWrite is one of the companies that would be hurt by the bill - being able to generate volume like this shows the reach and effectiveness of their lobbying efforts. Sacks of cash are the backup currency of Congress - Votes are still the coin of the realm. Finally, you guys are putting your cash on the line for this - that's a powerful statement, and I applaud you for doing so.

OstiaAntica 15y ago
Email works better, actually. All of Congress uses web forms that categorize and route the messages directly to their CRM systems. So it is easy for them to tally and respond. Mail, on the other hand, has to get irradiated for bioterror and takes 4-6 weeks to arrive. The letters are made brittle and staff dislike handling them, and they have to be typed or scanned into the office CRM.
- lwat 15y ago
  Actually from your description it sounds like letters are the way to go.
- chimeracoder 15y ago
  Congress uses multipliers to figure out how predictive each piece of communication is (ie, how likely it is that a certain piece of communication will result in a change in voting behavior). I don't remember the exact numbers, but the hierarchy goes (in descending order): in-person visit to DC office, in-person visit to local office, physical handwritten letter, physical typed letter, phone call, email. The multiplier attached to email is close to zero. (The exact method varies by congressman/senator, but the relative rankings are the same throughout).

nomdeplume 15y ago

Is this when they slip in another bill that does something even worse? While we are inundated with the news of this bill?

sev 15y ago

Great idea! I hope everyone uses this service as soon as possible.

alexholehouse 15y ago

This is great. What's the cashflow situation here - how many donations will you/do you need (I'm aware this is obviously demand dependent, but I'm just intrigued about the general situation)

chrischen 15y ago

Really nice of you to have made this free. I would have paid! I wouldn't have sent this if not for sendwrite, just because the cost for me to type, print, stamp, and mail an envelope is too high.

duncanj 15y ago
Individual postal letters have considerably more influence than form e-mails, but I don't know what category these letters would be placed in. I worry that a letter that is sent from an automated website might not carry as much weight as putting your own letter in an envelope, handwriting the address, and sending it out from your zip code. Supposedly, the constituent contacts that carry the most weight are in-person visits to the congressperson's office, contacts from people authorized to represent groups of constituents (like mayors), individual letters that are not copied from a form, and individual phone calls that are not read from a script. If anyone has a reason to be in Washington, calling the office of your congressperson and scheduling a meeting with their staff during that time will be very helpful, especially if your congressperson is on a relevant committee, in this case the House and Senate Judiciary Committees.
frossie 15y ago
I would have paid! For those who have yet to do it, I should point out that there is a PayPal donate button to support this effort that you are shown after submission of your entry. Send cards to all your representatives, then send those nice folk a couple of bucks to cover the postage at least.
- xymostech 15y ago
  I actually signed up for SendWrite before, but didn't really want to spend money on sending letters from the internet. However, I've now donated $5 because of the selfless thing they are doing. Thanks to everyone at SendWrite for doing this, hopefully it will help!
reedlaw 15y ago
I actually expected a paywall but was pleasantly surprised to see only a donate button. I hope that works out just as well for them.

mschwar99 15y ago

Its really great of you guys to offer this service on your own dime - thank you. Its also very shrewd marketing, and I hope it pays off for you.

kschults 15y ago

Thanks for a great tool. A suggestion: I'd like to be able to send a letter to all of my representatives and senators at once, instead of having to fill out the form multiple times.

mmmmax 15y ago
that might get expensive for SendWrite...
- thyrsus 15y ago
  Sendwrite's normal charge for 20 cards is $39.80. I sent three cards (two Senators, 1 representative), and donated to cover at least that.

dschobel 15y ago

Nice work guys. Thank you for doing this.

sscheper 15y ago

Just completed/sent a letter via your link and donated afterwords (and I rarely donate). Nice work.

jeremyarussell 15y ago

I sent mine off a bit ago, thanks a ton for doing this. Here's to making a difference.

bpowah 15y ago

I absolutely love the idea. I cant remember where I read it or heard it, but physical letters do get much more attention. Nothing against SendWrite, but I think even more attention can be gained via distinctive-looking enveloped letters that need to be cut open and unfolded. A stack of similar-looking postcards will have an impact in terms of volume, but will likely be sorted into a bin and never read. If you have the time and have extra company logo-ed envelopes, please consider sending one by hand as well.

colevscode 15y ago
Thanks! Just to clarify, SendWrite letters are mailed in an envelope, so each one will need to be opened. Also we deliberately didn't use a pre-written letter as a template. The result is that the letters we have received are very unique.
- dhimes 15y ago
  Damnit! Great idea, but I HATE it when on-screen text is not user-selectable. I want to take your on-screen address and put it on my own envelope. GRRRRRRR!! Great idea, though. Thank you.

dev1n 15y ago

Thank you for making this a free letter.

epi0Bauqu 15y ago

I'd love to send people to this site, but I worry people who have never heard of the bill won't know what is going on. Can you embed the explanation video or point to or something? Edit: I see you just did. Thx! I just linked to it on DuckDuckGo as well as donated and sent my letter. Thanks again.

mikesabat 15y ago
How insane is it that you have 12k karma, have no problem commenting on js, ruby, jquery, mongo or even css... but you're worried about people not understanding this bill. NOT a comment about you, epi08, but just commentary about what matters. If you haven't called your congressperson about this, then you don't care. period.
- ericd 15y ago
  Putting a notice on a site trafficked by 10's of thousands per day like DDG is a lot more powerful than calling... Everyone with a site, please do this. I've put it on PadMapper.
mgcross 15y ago
I'm more comfortable sharing the EFF 'opposition' post from yesterday. It's full of quotes that outline the concerns to friends and family that just won't understand or care about 'DNS'. https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/11/explosion-opposition-internet-blacklist-bill https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2011/11/explosion-opposition-i...

gus_massa 15y ago

The names in the DropDownList Control are invisible in IE8: http://imgur.com/7UIbT http://imgur.com/7UIbT

curiousepic 15y ago

Upvote this on Reddit for more volume: http://www.reddit.com/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsendwrite.com%2Fsopa%2F http://www.reddit.com/submit?url=https%3A%2F%2Fsendwrite.com...

coreyrecvlohe 15y ago

Great idea, just sent letters to both of my Senators.

101000101 15y ago

If you are really serious about taking a stand on this bill, then the most impact will achieved by going to the source of it, not Congress... unless you have more to offer Congress' incumbents and the nation's economy than the industry source does. They are a very important constituent. If a large number of consumers stopped purchasing a certain entertainment company's products for one day, would it have a noticeable impact on their revenues? How about a week? A month? The industry claims it's losing business to pirates. While it's probably true to some extent, it is speculative and nearly impossible to measure accurately. How many of the consumers of pirated content were never consumers of paid content to begin with? The products this industry sells are not life necessities. In summary, a branded entertainment "hunger strike" by actual existing, paid customers. This would cause real loss. And, if it's a noticeable loss, it would send a very strong message. Good luck.

gourneau 15y ago

Thanks guys! I donated a small amount, hopefully it will pay for my letters.

prawn 15y ago

Have always wondered if an online service for political mailings like this couldn't introduce some randomness to the opening, key statements and closing (Sincerely, Regards, etc) and varying the layout and style so they don't look too much like they were cranked out with the push of a button.

traldan 15y ago

Not that I don't want to support you guys for doing something awesome like this, but I wish the "Like" button showed appropriate meta-content on my facebook wall, instead of just a generic description of SendWrite. Also, donated. :)

dylangs1030 15y ago

This is a great idea. I'm sending in mail through this. Not everyone has the luxury of literally stopping by in person, but this is a fantastic alternative. I love this, though I've held back on commenting on SOPA until now. One of the frequent comments on SOPA I see is that the original founders behind the internet believed it should be free and unregulated. While I agree, once you introduce capitalism to the internet, as most companies have, you cannot let it be entirely unregulated. What is happening in the internet now is the same process that occurred directly after the industrial revolution - first there were completely unregulated, grievous abuses in the industry. The entertainment industry is attempting to regulate the flow of information and "capital" in the same way the government had to go "trust buster" on the industrial sectors in the last two centuries. However, while this is all good and well, as the side video explains, they already have protocols for doing this. They don't need any more methods of stopping piracy and the like. They should shift their attention to different ways of raising capital and earning revenue. The system they have isn't working, but erring on the side of regulation instead of erring on the side of libertarianism is still erring. There needs to be a comfortable balance, and SOPA does not make such a balance - it tips the scales in favor of the entertainment industry, and that is the last sector of the United States the internet should be supervised and moderated by.

sehugg 15y ago

There's also Apple's new Cards app. I'm going through my cat pictures now.

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riordan 15y ago

Here's the problem: after the 2001 anthrax scare, all mail sent to Congress has become incredibly delayed (on the order of weeks) while it gets tested and radiated. What some lobbying campaigns have done to get around this is send mass faxes to congressional offices overnight. It's like having access to someone else's office printer and that person has 1/538th of control over the federal government. The takeaway is, unless these letters are hand delivered, I doubt theyll reach their intended recipients in time.

draebek 15y ago
This is the second or third time I've read the problem of postal mail to congresspeople in these comments. I really like what SendWrite is doing here, but what riordan and others have said here rings true to me. Are they going to get my mail weeks after it mattered?

flexterra 15y ago

Thanks!

jneal 15y ago

Thanks for this. I wrote my letter and probably wouldn't have done so without the help of this website. This is one of the first times that a bill has come up that I feel so strongly against. If this thing becomes law, we'll all refer to the internet "before" and "after" this moment. I certainly hope it never comes to be.

yeison 15y ago

This is awesome, but the bill will be on the House floor tomorrow.

billpatrianakos 15y ago

I'm impressed. SendWrite is doing good while promoting themselves and it makes an awesome first impression. I never thought of using them before. I never even visited the site, just heard of them and generally got the idea of what they do. I think I may use them now! I'm actually looking for an excuse!

jjacobson 15y ago

Donated, tweeted, emailed, sent the letter, etc. Cole is a baller.

wallawe 15y ago

Although I applaud the efforts here, as a former staffer and intern for a congressman, I hate to be the bearer of bad news... The truth is my job as an intern, as was the job of all other interns that I met while in DC, was to take constituent calls and also open constituent mail. However, no information was ever actually relayed to the congressmen. We had a formatted response to each and every issue that the House could possibly vote on. Everything from internet poker, to any issue you could imagine. We would print out (and alter if necessary) the response to tailor it to the individual that called, emailed, or wrote a physical letter. The congressman's signature was stamped at the bottom of the letter and sent back to the constituent, giving the allusion of due diligence on the congressman's part. I was extremely surprised and disappointed at the same time at how commonplace this was. Pretty much every intern I asked about it went through the same drill. It's just another thing about our government and "representative democracy" that really irked me. So whenever I see ads urging people to call or write their congressman, I think back to this and realize further how powerless we really are. The best way to exert influence over your congressman is to donate lots of money and become a memorable name that can get in contact with the actual representative him/herself. Hell, that's how I got the internship. This is one of the reasons I sympathize with the OWS movement.

billpatrianakos 15y ago
I'm cynical on government too but don't you think that if enough people contact them somehow and theres a clear majority view that somehow the official get the message and that sways them just a bit? Am I still being too naive or is it really truly nothing but money money money that gets them to do anything?
- wallawe 15y ago
  You are correct. I worked for a conservative congressman and he knew his constituents and what they wanted for the most part. It's not hard if your state leans hard to either side of the spectrum. And in his defense, if he took every call and letter into account, he would never have time to do anything else. But at the same time, what about those that have a differing opinion from the majority and have a good point to be made? Shouldn't everyone's opinion be heard? And what about states whose constituents are closer to the center? It's a difficult situation to say the least.

switz 15y ago

Very great for sendwrite to do this. Not only will it protect their business, but it's a great marketing tool.

mceachen 15y ago

I just submitted my letters to my representatives (and donated, thanks Cole!) To hit up your reps with different communication channels, http://www.contactingthecongress.org http://www.contactingthecongress.org has voice, fax, and web forms.

yoshyosh 15y ago

Perhaps someone can change the facebook link at the top to a share or a recommend link. Those show up in feeds whereas likes only show up on your wall.

lflux 15y ago

Looks great, but I can't set an international return address without a state. I'm a registered voter in the US, but haven't been a resident for a long time. Guess I'll just email my rep.

padobson 15y ago

Sent. From my letter: H.R.3261, the 'Stop Online Piracy Act', is going to be the Volstead Act of the 21st Century. Like Prohibition, creating draconian laws like these to stop online piracy is going to do two things: 1) destroy respectable businesses that thrive on user-generated content and 2) drastically increase the number of pirates online by expanding its definition, and in doing so, massively expand online piracy. SOPA will literally create a generation of internet bootleggers.

pizza_lover 15y ago

hi all, as a chinese, let me explain what's the situation in China. maybe you already know we have a similar censorship system called GFW(the Great FireWall of China). when the government don't want we to see the truth of something, or something may be a threat to them，they will ban it incruely, sometimes they even do it in the name of "for the children" or "for the harmony society" or give their version of totally-bullshit “truth”. besides the baning of website, they also have some people take salaries from government and speak for the government in every forum when scandals of government officials burn out.and when scandals burns out government also send orders to every website, every press to stop talk and publishing on the scandals, the reason they give is "for the harmony of society" or "don't be mislead by the media in US and Euro" :D what's more almost every big website/application in china has employees either hired by government or hired by website/software-company to censor the users' activities, including QQ(biggest IM in china, just like MSN), Youku & Tudou(biggest two video site, like youtube), renren(biggest SNS in china, like facebook), baidu(biggest search engine in china, like google).if you said something bad to the government, your words must be deleted, what was worse, there used to be 2 men chatting using QQ, and the owner of QQ--Tencent Compang--give their chats record to the police ACTIVELY, and the result is the 2 men was sent to prison. so if you allow your congress to pass SOPA, you know what would happen to you all.

steauengeglase 15y ago

Just a bit of advice from back when I was sending letters over the DMCA. If your congressman is supporting the bill, don't bother. My Senator at the time was Fritz Hollings; came from a poor district, so he was dependent on a lot of outside contributions. I recall Disney being one of his largest contributors. I received a response 3 months after it passed that more or less told me I was a enemy of commerce. I won't lie, I was a little shocked to get back such a pointed letter when I was as courteous and respectful as possible. I learned my lesson from that one. You can send a letter to anyone and generally it is a great idea, but if they get a dime from your position's opposition, it is just pissing in the wind. It's just business.

lukejduncan 15y ago

Is this a one off website or based on some framework? This seems like a very powerfully general purpose advocacy tool.

shmeeps 15y ago

Filled out one for each of my representatives and senators, and also made a small donation. I may not be able to do much, but I'll be damned if I don't do anything.

dan_illustrate 15y ago

My Congressman and Senator here in Massachusettsmust understand the ramifications of this bill and protect the individual's citizen from corporate and government control of the internet. They must be educated and read up on this abrogation of civil rights and government protected and constitutionally guaranteed free speech and discourse. Dan Osterman, Boston

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