Google is Building an Email List Instead of Asking People to Call Congress (opens in new tab)

I do wonder what form Google's "online petition" will take.

Speaking optimistically, they do have both credibility and the power to publicize, so if they say e.g. "1 million Google users are against SOPA" perhaps it will be hard for the MSM not to pick it up and repeat the news. And the number could be very large.

If Google put up congressional phone numbers, they could melt the congressional phone lines.

SOPA and PIPA are just one form of legislation involving the censorship of the Internet. Even if they are struck down, new legislation backed by any number of industries will eventually reappear.

Creating a mailing list means that Google forever has an army of people they can contact to spread the word.

The message from individual constituents matters much less than the media attention this is getting. CNN is what changes politicians' minds, not phone calls.

Still, this would have been a great opportunity for Google's "click to call" widget.

I was a bit worried that Google might have visitors call congress directly. That would surely shut down phone service in areas and result in less calls.

And so what? The most visited website is putting out a SOPA protest. This thing has gone from a protest to a greedy contest it seems. I want more, I want more - not every huge company can do it without losing profit, you know.

Yay, let's use more useless emails that won't get read.