The Letter I wrote to my Congresswoman & Senators

I think this does a pretty good job explaining why defeating SOPA and PIPA is so important to us.

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Dear Senator Bennet, Senator Udall, and Congresswoman DeGette

My name is Claudia Hall Christian. I am a co-owner, along with a few other Coloradians, of a small publishing company, Cook Street Publishing. We employ about five people give or take the season. As we are only three years old, we expect our number of employees to continue to grow. I am writing you today about SOPA and PIPA.

We publish serial fiction and use the Internet as part of our distribution tool. Like many of the famous serial fictions, Bleak House (Charles Dickens), Tales of the City (Armstead Maupin), or Sex in the City (Candace Bushnell) for example, our serial fiction includes real people, real places, and current issues.

Let me share with you what one of our readers says about Denver Cereal: "It has truly helped me through a tough time in my life and has brought back motivation and meaning. Although the books are fiction it is about people overcoming adversity to any situation. It is just what I needed." NS

The way that SOPA and PIPA are written, our serial fiction, particularly Denver Cereal, will be blocked due to copyright infringement merely for mentioning a famous persons name, a prominent restaurant such as Pete's Kitchen where one of our characters works, or other culturally relevant situations our characters find themselves in. When the names and comments about these insitutions are found, our host will be required to shut our site down. When this happens, we will close our business.

You can save our business by voting against SOPA and PIPA.Yes, something needs to be done about piracy. But this is not the solution.

Sincerely,

Claudia Hall Christian

for Cook Street Publishing

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Update (1/19/12):

Congresswoman Diana DeGette's response:(via Facebook)

"I want to thank everyone who has taken the time to contact me about SOPA. Addressing online copyright infringement-which some studies say accounts for almost 24% of all online activity-is critical, but without serious changes I’m not convinced SOPA effectively solves the issue and am concerned about the implications it would have for online innovation."

Senator Mark Udall joined in the call against it on January 14.

Senator Bennet remains one of the few co-sponsors of the bill.  His response (via Facebook):

"I believe that we need to address online piracy of intellectual property. This is an important jobs issue. Recently, several Coloradans have raised valid concerns about potential unintended consequences that could result from the Protect IP Act as it is currently written and that could compromise our economic growth. Because of the complexity and technical nature of this issue, we should come to an agreement that protects against online piracy but that avoids these consequences before we move forward."

Personally, I think it's time to recall him.

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