A really quick campaign against SOPA-like bill in Taiwan - how we end it in 36 hours

Hi,

We had a very quick campaign against the SOPA-like bill during last weekend (Sep 29) in Taiwan. Here is the story I would like to share with you all.

(Most of the links in Chinese)

There was a legislator “鄭運鵬” proposed and sent out a draft bill (which very similar to SOPA) last Friday.

So we start a campaign on Saturday. We found two younger legislators from NewPowerParty (the third-large party which is mostly supported by our generation and internet user), also countersigned the draft.

I wrote the following article to discuss the problem of the bill, how it’s so similar to 2013 SOPA/PIPA, and how it can threaten to freedom of speech. We hashtag the bill as “#鄭運鵬封網法案” (Mr.Cheng -the name of legislator- internet blocking bill) and “#時代力量也有簽” (New Power Party Also Signed).

https://medium.com/@irvinfly/3261e96a2917

We promote it across the social network through many channels we built on 2013. Another friend also publish a story on another internet news media

https://www.inside.com.tw/2017/09/30/internet-white-terror

We also contact some friends inside NewPowerParty, ask them why the hell they had signed such bad thing. We got an immediate response from their chair to opposite the bill on Sat. night. I feel the main reason is that because the hashtag looks really a shame on them, which implies that they are an assistant of internet blocking.

Finally, Mr. Cheng, the proposer withdraw the bill on next morning and admit the reason was the pressure from internet user on countersigned-legislators. (And I believe he couldn’t stand for his name linked with the hashtag)

So we solved the bill in less than 36 hours, and I believe no other legislators dare to do it again in nearly months because we prove that we will fight back hard. :grin:

Here is the post on our MozTW community Facebook page after the whole campaign end, which we say “Freedom of speech on the internet is basic value and definitely inviolable. MozTW community will keep speaking for Internet freedom, and be the strongest defendant of digital human rights.” and linked to our Chinese policy/advocacy telegram group.
https://www.facebook.com/MozTW/posts/1803172446389410

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Great work! That is indeed a great story!

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