I would ask that you please forward this to as many friends and family as possible. It is probably the most important petition you will sign this year as if this anti-democratic legislation is passed without due process, debate and public consultation the impact to the growth of the fastest growing sector of the Irish economy will be catastrophic

Quote from http://stopsopaireland.com

Sean Sherlock, Minister for Enterprise, Jobs and Innovation, has announced he intends to enact a radical new law curtailing access to websites in Ireland, without a vote in the Oireachtas. Your civil rights and free access to the internet are under threat. Stop Minister Sherlock.

Last Wednesday the 18th of January, hundreds of websites in the US went dark for one day. In other words, website owners took their sites off line. This was planned to raise awareness of a similar act planned for America. SOPA, the abbreviation for the Stop Online Piracy act was badly thought out. To summarize, The bill would authorize the U.S. Department of Justice to seek court orders against websites outside U.S. jurisdiction accused of infringing on copyrights, or of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Reasons why SOPA is desired by some in the US government and reasons why it is so strongly aposed by companies such as Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Ebay, Linked in, and hundreds of others can be found here, here, here and here.

Due to a petition signed by hundreds of thousands of US citizens, within one day, enough pressure was exerted on their government to make them think again about this disruptive and unhelpful act.

Within three hours the petition at http://stopsopaireland.com was signed by 2500 Irish individuals. For this to succeed, another 25000 people need to sign it to send a very clear message to the Irish government.

This petition does not endorse online piracy, it is widely acknowledged that mechanisms are required to resolve this problem however if legislation is needed, the consultation of relevant experts in the industry in Ireland and across the globe is vital. The continued sustainability and growth of the Irish economy should be paramount at all times. Especially considering the global catastrophe we now find ourselves part of.

Please visit http://stopsopaireland.com and sign the petition. Forward this mail to as many people as you can and lets send the Irish government a clear message. We will not sit back while damaging legislation is passed. We will not let the pressure imposed by record and media companies bully our country into submission!