Internet Defense League


The Internet Defense League is a website that was launched in March 2012 with the aim of organizing future online protests of anti-piracy legislation, following the success of the anti-SOPA and PIPA protests.

History

The Internet Defense League site is a creation of the Fight for the Future nonprofit, a group noted for its participation in the anti-SOPA protests of 2011, and Alexis Ohanian, founder of Reddit.

Website

According to Tiffiniy Cheng, co-founder of Fight for the Future, the aim of the Defense League site is to sign up thousands of websites, from giant organizations to individual bloggers, who can be mobilized quickly if needed for future anti-piracy legislation protests. They will use a "cat signal", a takeoff on the Bat signal, if there is need to act. "There's this academic theory... that talks about if you ban the ability of people to share cat photos, they'll start protesting en masse", Cheng explains to CNN as to why they chose a symbol of a cat.

Reception

As of May 2012, several notable organizations have signed on to the protest network, including Mozilla, Reddit, WordPress, and the Cheezburger Network.