Jordanian freedom of expression activists are participating in a media blackout, inspired by SOPA, protesting a piece of legislation they find threatening. These critics believe the proposed amendment to the Press and Publication Law would block foreign sites, allow greater government control of the media and restrict social media commenting.
The protest dubbed #BlackoutJo, proposed by site 7oryanet, is said to include more than 200 of Jordan's most prominent web properties, including Oasis500, Syntax, Akhtaboot, Maysalward, 7iber, and ShopGo.
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"Unlike many countries in the Middle East where stringent censorship of the Internet is already in place, Jordan has benefited greatly from an open Internet policy which, among other things, has resulted in the rapid growth of the ICT community in the Kingdom, contributing significantly to the economy both in terms of job creation, tax revenues and investments," reads a post explaining the protest on AmmonNews.net.
Many participating sites are displaying the below banner, which says, "You may be deprived of the content of this site under the amendments of the Jordanian Press and Publications Law and the governmental Internet censorship."
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Jordan's queen dowager, Noor Al Hussein, even expressed her opposition to the proposed amendments on Twitter.
Hypocrisy,lies,intolerance,hate,violence-all unhealthy evils. Where does it start and end.
#censorship#BlackOutJO— Noor Al Hussein (@QueenNoor) August 29, 2012
Do you think Jordan will succeed taking a page out of SOPA's protesters' success story? Let us know in the comments.
Image courtesy of iStock, Henrik5000
This story originally published on Mashable here.
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