Joseph McElroy, one of the owners of rock nyc's parent company Muse And Music, was at the protest against the adoption of the "SOPA" and "PIPA" laws. As, Joseph explained it to us, rock nyc could be closed without explanation and without redress. What follows is his report.
Yesterday, went to my first protest Don't get me wrong, I have been an active political person my whole life, but more in an organizational or virtual way. I have signed petitions and promoted causes with a passion. But never actually could get myself to go to a protest. The main reason is that I hate crowds. Being a big guy, I find it difficult to be comfortable and move around. I also, ALWAYS have to stand at the back of the audience. This is a little bit of a selfish conceit I know, but that bit of irritation seems to be the extra drop of water that causes the creek to turn white. I don't go to protests.
What cleared the water for me was a sense of community and a concern for the future of that community, and more broadly, a feeling that the health of the community is vital to the growth and prosperity of the nation and the world. The community of which I speak is the technology and entrepreneur community. After many years of being a solitary act, and then years as a very small community (which I treasure) with my wife, I am finding that the world of technology and entrepreneurship has become a vibrant and passionate ecosystem. One that is driving innovation and creating new enterprises that will bring our world out of the doldrums we have been in for a while.
And the issue – the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House of Representatives and the Protect I.P. Act in the Senate. At the core of the issue is that these bills could cause censorship of the Web and deny website owners the right of due process central to our legal system. It is the first salvo in a war to make the Internet less Open. Many sites, including Google and Wikipedia staged black-outs of their sites yesterday. Google has more information about these bills and why they are not good for our life or our economy here.
Wednesday's protest was in front of the offices of our New York Senators, Schumer and Killibrand. Who both support the bill. Over 1500 geeks and nerds and entrepreneurs and people of many walks of life showed up. At first, it was a bit awkward – nobody really knew what to do. One of the first cheers was "What do we want? What are we here for!"… to which I shouted out "To learn how to protest!" … which brought a big laugh and a moment of satisfaction for myself. But the crowd quickly caught on and was very involved. Then the speakers organized by NY-Tech Meetup – an organization of 20,000 New York Technologists, started speaking. They were knowledgeable and passionate and energized the crowd. It was a very worthwhile time and I think very productive. I walked away with a sense that this community is going to be even more involved and powerful in the future.
We made the news on many channels. The New York Times brought the protest to the front page of their site. I hope to see more going forward. And we realize this is not a one time event. We have to remain committed and focused for the long haul. The enemies of freedom and an Open Internet will not rest. Nor shall we.
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