StopSopaIreland

## INSTRUCTIONS ##

So, we pre-prepared a list of Irish TD/MEP's.

We also have a template message with a "TL;DR" section.

Now, if you wish, have the ORIGINAL sender field set to "noirishsopa@live.com" so we can try keep count of how many mails are sent :)

Eventually, these guys *have* to listen.

Feel free to edit the template, but do NOT include threats or profanity. Keep it civil.

## ONWARD! ##

### Put this in the BCC field ###

gerry.adams@oireachtas.ie,
james.bannon@oireachtas.ie,
sean.barrett@oireachtas.ie,
ceann.comhairle@oireachtas.ie,
tom.barry@oireachtas.ie,
richard.boydbarrett@oireachtas.ie,
pat.breen@oireachtas.ie,
tommy.broughan@oireachtas.ie,
john.browne@oireachtas.ie,
richard.bruton@oireachtas.ie,
joan.burton@oireachtas.ie,
ray.butler@oireachtas.ie,
jerry.buttimer@oireachtas.ie,
catherine.byrne@oireachtas.ie,
eric.byrne@oireachtas.ie,
dara.calleary@oireachtas.ie,
ciaran.cannon@oireachtas.ie,
joe.carey@oireachtas.ie,
paudie.coffey@oireachtas.ie,
aine.collins@oireachtas.ie,
joan.collins@oireachtas.ie,
niall.collins@oireachtas.ie,
michael.colreavy@oireachtas.ie,
michael.conaghan@oireachtas.ie,
sean.conlan@oireachtas.ie,
paulj.connaughton@oireachtas.ie,
ciara.conway@oireachtas.ie,
noel.coonan@oireachtas.ie,
marcella.corcorankennedy@oireachtas.ie,
joe.costello@oireachtas.ie,
simon.coveney@oireachtas.ie,
barry.cowen@oireachtas.ie,
michael.creed@oireachtas.ie,
lucinda.creighton@oireachtas.ie,
sean.crowe@oireachtas.ie,
clare.daly@oireachtas.ie,
jim.daly@oireachtas.ie,
john.deasy@oireachtas.ie,
jimmy.deenihan@oireachtas.ie,
pat.deering@oireachtas.ie,
pearse.doherty@oireachtas.ie,
regina.doherty@oireachtas.ie,
stephen.donnelly@oireachtas.ie,
paschal.donohoe@oireachtas.ie,
timmy.dooley@oireachtas.ie,
robert.dowds@oireachtas.ie,
andrew.doyle@oireachtas.ie,
bernard.durkan@oireachtas.ie,
dessie.ellis@oireachtas.ie,
damien.english@oireachtas.ie,
alan.farrell@oireachtas.ie,
frank.feighan@oireachtas.ie,
anne.ferris@oireachtas.ie,
martin.ferris@oireachtas.ie,
frances.fitzgerald@oireachtas.ie,
peterm.fitzpatrick@oireachtas.ie,
charles.flanagan@oireachtas.ie,
lukeming.flanagan@oireachtas.ie,
terence.flanagan@oireachtas.ie,
sean.fleming@oireachtas.ie,
tom.fleming@oireachtas.ie,
eamon.gilmore@oireachtas.ie,
noel.grealish@oireachtas.ie,
brendan.griffin@oireachtas.ie,
john.halligan@oireachtas.ie,
dominic.hannigan@oireachtas.ie,
noel.harrington@oireachtas.ie,
simon.harris@oireachtas.ie,
brian.hayes@oireachtas.ie,
tom.hayes@oireachtas.ie,
seamus.healy@oireachtas.ie,
michael.healy-rae@oireachtas.ie,
martin.heyden@oireachtas.ie,
joe.higgins@oireachtas.ie,
phil.hogan@oireachtas.ie,
brendan.howlin@oireachtas.ie,
heather.humphreys@oireachtas.ie,
kevin.humphreys@oireachtas.ie,
derek.keating@oireachtas.ie,
colm.keaveney@oireachtas.ie,
paul.kehoe@oireachtas.ie,
bily.kelleher@oireachtas.ie,
alan.kelly@oireachtas.ie,
enda.kenny@oireachtas.ie,
taoiseach@taoiseach.gov.ie,
sean.kenny@oireachtas.ie,
seamus.kirk@oireachtas.ie,
michael.kitt@oireachtas.ie,
sean.kyne@oireachtas.ie,
anthony.lawlor@oireachtas.ie,
michael.lowry@oireachtas.ie,
ciaran.lynch@oireachtas.ie,
kathleen.lynch@oireachtas.ie,
john.lyons@oireachtas.ie,
padraig.maclochlainn@oireachtas.ie,
eamonn.maloney@oireachtas.ie,
micheal.martin@oireachtas.ie,
peter.mathews@oireachtas.ie,
michael.mccarthy@oireachtas.ie,
charlie.mcconalogue@oireachtas.ie,
marylou.mcdonald@oireachtas.ie,
shane.mcentee@oireachtas.ie,
nicky.mcfadden@oireachtas.ie,
dinny.mcginley@oireachtas.ie,
finian.mcgrath@oireachtas.ie,
mattie.mcgrath@oireachtas.ie,
michael.mcgrath@oireachtas.ie,
john.mcguinness@oireachtas.ie,
joe.mchugh@oireachtas.ie,
sandra.mclellan@oireachtas.ie,
tony.mcloughlin@oireachtas.ie,
michael.mcnamara@oireachtas.ie,
olivia.mitchell@oireachtas.ie,
mary.mitchelloconnor@oireachtas.ie,
michael.moynihan@oireachtas.ie,
michelle.mulherin@oireachtas.ie,
catherine.murphy@oireachtas.ie,
dara.murphy@oireachtas.ie,
eoghan.murphy@oireachtas.ie,
gerald.nash@oireachtas.ie,
denis.naughten@oireachtas.ie,
dan.neville@oireachtas.ie,
derek.nolan@oireachtas.ie,
michael.noonan@oireachtas.ie,
patrick.nulty@oireachtas.ie,
caoimhghin.ocaolain@oireachtas.ie,
eamon.ocuiv@oireachtas.ie,
sean.ofearghail@oireachtas.ie,
aodhan.oriordain@oireachtas.ie,
aengus.osnodaigh@oireachtas.ie,
jonathan.obrien@oireachtas.ie,
willie.odea@oireachtas.ie,
kieran.odonnell@oireachtas.ie,
patrick.odonovan@oireachtas.ie,
fergus.odowd@oireachtas.ie,
john.omahony@oireachtas.ie,
joe.oreilly@oireachtas.ie,
jan.osullivan@oireachtas.ie,
maureen.osullivan@oireachtas.ie,
willie.penrose@oireachtas.ie,
john.perry@oireachtas.ie,
ann.phelan@oireachtas.ie,
johnpaul.phelan@oireachtas.ie,
thomas.pringle@oireachtas.ie,
ruairi.quinn@oireachtas.ie,
pat.rabbitte@oireachtas.ie,
james.reilly@oireachtas.ie,
michael.ring@oireachtas.ie,
shane.ross@oireachtas.ie,
brendan.ryan@oireachtas.ie,
alan.shatter@oireachtas.ie,
sean.sherlock@oireachtas.ie,
roisin.shorthall@oireachtas.ie,
brendan.smith@oireachtas.ie,
arthur.spring@oireachtas.ie,
emmet.stagg@oireachtas.ie,
brian.stanley@oireachtas.ie,
david.stanton@oireachtas.ie,
billy.timmis@oireachtas.ie,
peadar.toibin@oireachtas.ie,
robert.troy@oireachtas.ie,
joanna.tuffy@oireachtas.ie,
liam.twomey@oireachtas.ie,
leo.varadkar@oireachtas.ie,
jack.wall@oireachtas.ie,
mick.wallace@oireachtas.ie,
brian.walsh@oireachtas.ie,
alex.white@oireachtas.ie,
proinsias.derossa@europarl.europa.eu,
gay.mitchell@europarl.europa.eu,
paul.murphy@europarl.europa.eu,
liam.aylward@europarl.europa.eu,
nessa.childers@europarl.europa.eu,
mairead.mcguinness@europarl.europa.eu,
brian.crowley@europarl.europa.eu,
seankellymep@gmail.com,
phil.prendergast@europarl.europa.eu,
patthecope.gallagher@europarl.europa.eu,
marian.harkin@europarl.europa.eu,
jim.higgins@europarl.europa.eu,

### THIS IS THE MESSAGE ###

Dear duly elected representative of the peoples of Ireland,

I write to you today to call your attention to a matter of great importance and urgency to our nation. Before the months end, Minister of State for Enterprise Seán Sherlock is to publish an “order” which is understood to allow copyright holders to demand the censorship of Irish citizens access an open and democratic Internet.

The Internet represents the single most important economic, social, and cultural communications tool since mankind spoke his first words. The Internet’s ability to promote the free exchange of artistic expression and encourage the discussion of revolutionary ideas such as democracy makes it to the modern world, what roads were to the Romans. The Internet is the road upon which we and our children and our children’s children will prosper. Any attempt at limiting its efficacy, at censoring the free exchange of ideas and expression should be considered an attack on our liberties and our future prosperity, I hope you’ll agree. Whether you recognise it or not, your constituents certainly do and I am in no doubt that they will make you aware of this fact in the coming days.

The Internet, spurred on by the incredible wealth of human talent on the Island of Ireland, promotes and takes an active role in the development of technologies of global significance. Its potential positive impact on our Island has yet to be fully realised; we are only now beginning to reap the rewards of our earlier labours of investing in resilient and wide spread broadband to the nation and other investments.

Yahoo!, Twitter, Facebook, Google, AOL, FourSquare, LinkedIn, PayPal, Zynga, and many more US based companies came out to protest against similar legislation in their country (SOPA/PIPA) which aimed at addressing copyright holders concerns, by censoring the Internet. These companies and those much like them are the future lifeblood of Ireland’s knowledge economy. To believe we can summarily enact legislation that will censor the Internet and not severely detriment our economy and our democratic rights is foolhardy to say the least.

The means by which this legislation is proposed to work will not achieve its intended result of protecting the rights of copyright holders. Infringing sites will still be accessible by even the most minimally technologically literate persons. This legislation serves only to erode our rights and discourage international investment.

If we continue to let our rights be eroded at the whims of corporations, which place pressure on our leaders to create legislation that chips away at our ability to freely express ourselves, we will fade into insignificance on the world stage and we will have squandered the enormous potential that we, as a nation striving for a knowledge economy, have worked so hard to achieve.

On the 11th of January, The European Commission recognised that the Internet “has enormous potential for boosting growth and creating jobs.” and that 20-25% of new jobs could come from growth in this area. Growth which will not be possible if the policies in place are more harmful than they are productive.

I ask, with all due respect, please do not let this legislation pass.

Yours sincerely,

A technologically literate voter,

~ Ok, so that is the template email that is politically correct. Here is the TL;DR version, also known as the "Quick Digest".

This law will do NOTHING except annoy tech literate people AND enable later internet censorship.
This law will INHIBIT technological companies/startups from growing. Hence, causing loss of jobs.
This law is a prime example of "Poor Civic Hygene"; i.e. passing bills that can later be abused.
This law will protect no-ones copyright, but WILL inhibit small companies and open-source initiatives.
This law will stifle community driven projects.
This law will NOT prevent piracy, in fact, toolkits for such filter evasion are widely available.
This law will allow a gag on freedom of speech.

I think you get the point.

This law = Pointless. It will do a LOT of harm and NO good.

My advice, would be to go tell the lobbying bodies that demand it to go back to trying to sue ISP's, as that is *less* damaging than this.