We don’t cover policy much here on Android Community, but if you’re not aware of the so-called “Stop Online Piracy Act” bill going through the US House of Representatives, you should be. It used the old MacGuffin of piracy to grant ridiculous powers to the US government, allowing federal agencies to essentially cut of any targeted website without a warrant or due process. Understandably this has created a firestorm of public outcry, and now SumOfUs.org will be utilizing the most terrifying weapon in their arsenal of civil disobedience: Android costumes.

A group of protesters is planning to picket the US Chamber of Commerce offices in Washington DC, in response to the independent lobbying organization’s official support for SOPA. They’ll then march to Google’s Washington DC offices on New York Avenue, hand-delivering a petition from GoogleQuittheChamber.org. The petition asks that Google officially leave the US Chamber of Commerce, a move that the company has been considering since November. The site’s motto encourages Google to follow through with these plans, reminding the search giant of its own guiding principle: “The Chamber’s policies are evil, Google– Don’t be evil.” Various other Chamber policies, which SumOfUs.org considers to be anti-environmental and anti-LGBT, are also being protested.

The petition is nearing 200,000 signatures, and will be delivered in an over-sized Gmail envelope. Regardless of your political stance, you’ve got to admire the protestors’ moxie, not to mention their spot-on targeting of their audience. Whether or not Google will actually leave the Chamber of Commerce has yet to be seen – the threat may have simply been a bargaining tactic, used to illustrate exactly how much Google opposes SOPA. The march will begin at 11:00 AM on December 14th outside the Chamber of Commerce.

Photo credit:Agam720 at Android Forums

2 COMMENTS

    • I don’t believe that its piracy they are defending. Instead I think they believe that the government shouldn’t have the power to control what we see on the internet (which is my belief as well). The question is that when the government is given the power to shut down whatever website they deem bad, how far will they go? 

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