January 18, 2012: The Day The Internet Citizens of the World Made The U.S. Government Crack!

For the past several months, the U.S. government hasn't been able to agree on anything; taxes, government spending, foreign policy, the economy, etc. But miraculously, these bureaucrats in Washington D.C. came together in a "bipartisan" effort to push two pieces of legislation that threatened the Freedom of the Internet; the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) & Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). And why not? The Movie and Music Industry paid for these bills to be created and passed to the tune of over $90 million in campaign contributions in 2011 (over $100 million in 2010). So its no coincidence, even amidst economic and international uncertainty, that Congress gave this issue special attention.

Although the Movie and Music industries attempted to buy the monopolization of creativity into law, the Internet Citizens of the world came together and rallied against this issue in unison. On January 18, 2012, a virtual protest that encompassed regular Internet users to multinational corporations was planned, implemented and (thanks to all of you) was successful. Because all of us did our part in this historic virtual protest (blogs, vlogs, Tweets, blackouts, phone calls, etc) the government cracked under the pressure.

This is not only a victory for the Internet Citizens of the world but it should show all that if the majority of the masses rally behind one issue, cause or idea, the government will bow to the will of the people. Because of our efforts to organize millions of people behind this issue, the sponsors of SOPA and PIPA are back peddling away from the legislation. Even if these bureaucrats are now back away from this issue, they should still be voted out of office; for their support for SOPA & PIPA is proof that are not public servants.

We should not only remember January 18th 2012 for its Internet success, but it should serve as a reminder that this a government made for the people and by the people. We accomplished more in one day of virtual protests than Occupy Wall Street did with their waste of time, energy and taxpayer money attempt at civil disobedience (they accomplished absolutely nothing after months of turning parks into bio-hazard areas). Let this be a lesson to those that actually want to change the system, instead of panhandling the system like pathetic derelicts.

We did it Internet Citizens! Take a bow, for the last time the government cracked under this type of pressure was the era of the Civil Right Act. Bravo to you all!