Canada: Join the Day of Action against a Bell-led censorship initiative

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As you may already know, Bell Canada is spearheading a coalition of over 25 organizations (including Rogers, Cineplex, and the CBC), calling itself "FairPlay Canada," which is urging the CRTC to implement a website blocking system to curb piracy.

This unprecedented Canadian proposal is deeply problematic for a number of reasons (as outlined by professor Michael Geist's series The Case Against the Bell Coalition's Website Blocking Plan), such as Canada already having some of the toughest anti-piracy rules in the world and the data showing declining piracy rates as well as a booming television and streaming industry -- contrary to the story Bell's coalition is telling the CRTC.

If this proposal goes through, we'll see legitimate content and speech censored online -- violating our right to free expression and robust Net Neutrality rules that both Minister Navdeep Bains and Prime Minister Justin Trudeau have pledged support for.

Therefore, we've teamed up with almost two dozen other organizations including the B.C. Civil Liberties Association, Canadian Journalists for Free Expression, and Creative Commons, for a nationwide day of action to stop censorship in response to this overreaching proposal on February 28.

What's happening on February 28?

With your help, we will send at least 50,000 comments to the CRTC by the end of the day. And together, we are going to generate a huge buzz on social media to raise awareness and send the CRTC and members of FairPlay Canada a very clear message: Canadians are overwhelmingly opposed to this reckless website blocking plan.

What can I do to participate?

• RSVP to the day of action here so we can keep you updated on all of the activities taking place on Wednesday, February 28.
• If you haven't already, please take two minutes and submit a comment to the CRTC now using our easy tool, now or, navigate to the CRTC's website and file your comment directly.
• Then, ask your friends to speak out, share this link, act.openmedia.org/StopCanadaCensorship, and/or take to Facebook and Twitter.
• Share this site, change your profile pictures and write status updates asking your friends to stand up to Bell's censorship scheme.
• Use this tool to tweet the companies directly that have signed on to this dangerous proposal, asking them to withdraw their support.

We can do this -- over 20,000 Canadians have already submitted comments to the CRTC sounding the alarm about this proposal, and that number keeps ramping up as we speak. But we've only got about a month left to submit our views (deadline is March 29) and axe this proposal, so the day of action on February 28 is our best opportunity to stand against censorship and flood the CRTC with comments ALL AT ONCE! Can I count on you to join us?

Follow Open Media on Facebook and Twitter for the latest developments on the day of action to stop censorship and Bell coalition's censorship plan.