Wednesday, the American women's hockey team meets its arch rival Canada on the ice in Sochi at the Winter Olympics. It's an early round game, but when it comes to these two teams, which are expected to meet in the gold medal game, there's no such thing as a low-stakes match.
When they meet on the ice, things get heated: A match between the two teams in late December turned into a brawl. After the "melee," the referees handed out 10 fighting majors and other infractions.
Tuesday's protest is unlikely to have the same effect. It doesn't have the backing and reach of Internet powerhouses, the way the SOPA strike did. For example, while Google reportedly supports the bill — and sent out an email today about it to a few million users — Google isn't talking about it on its homepage.
And the end result won't be as drastic: Lawmakers aren't voting on this immediately, though it already has significant bipartisan support in the House.
"We're not expecting this to stop a bill that's about to pass, like in the case of SOPA and PIPA," April Glaser of the Electronic Frontier Foundation told NBC Bay Area last week.
But Segal says the organizers hope the protest will show lawmakers "that there's going to be ongoing public pressure until these reforms are instituted."
The USA Freedom Act could end government mass surveillance programs like the NSA's call records collection, the Electronic Frontier Foundation wrote in November. But it also warned that "the NSA has a long history of twisting the language of statutes to argue for surveillance authority."
The bill's two sponsors — Sen. Patrick Leahy, D-Vt., and Rep. Jim Sensenbrenner, R-Wis. — weren't always working alongside open-Internet activists. Leahy authored PIPA, one of the bills at the root of the 2012 protests, and in 2005 Sensenbrenner introduced the USA Patriot Act, which the Freedom Act would amend. Sensenbrenner said last July that he was "extremely troubled" that the FBI had used the Patriot Act to justify collecting phone records in bulk from Verizon.
All Tech Considered
Feds Can't Enforce Net Neutrality: What This Means For You
This is the second in a very occasional series of posts in which we interview inanimate objects during fever dreams. This particular interview is with a paper bag that actor Shia LaBeouf put over his head during the premiere of Lars Von Trier's Nymphomaniac: Volume I at the Berlin International Film Festival.
What's that written on you?
It says "I AM NOT FAMOUS ANYMORE."
Huh.
I didn't write it.
No, I know. I'm just ... I'm thinking about it. It's perplexing.
You're telling me. You get to get up and leave this interview and never think about me again. This is permanent marker. Permanent.
So the intent is not to attract attention?
You're asking about the intent? I'm a bag. Ask me a bag question.
Oh. Sure. So ... how long have you been a bag?
Are you serious? This is your question? Why am I even here?
No, no, no. Sorry. So what were you doing before the film festival?
I was folded up, Cronkite.
Oh. Right. Okay. Well, was it fun being part of the festival?
It was ... well, I don't want to get philosophical.
That's okay. That's okay. Everybody wants to know how you feel.
The thing is, it's not what I was made for, you know? A bag, you know, its true purpose is to hold things. And I'm sort of a special bag; I'm a little bigger than a lunch bag, or what we call a "peewee," and I'm smaller than a big grocery bag, which we call a "venti." I'm right there in the middle. I'm good for takeout, I'm good for, like, picking up a few groceries on the way home. What I am not made for is being part of some actor's publicity stunt.
Gee ... that's sort of sad.
And he cut holes. He cut holes in my side. He cut holes for his little eyes, and he wrote all over me — I can see it when I look in a mirror — and now I'm ruined for actually holding anything. I can no longer do bag work. I'm like some kind of monster.
Do you talk to your friends about it?
I don't have a lot of friends. I'm in a dumpster right now.
Oh my gosh, are you okay?
It smells.
Can I ... do you need me to contact your family and tell them where you are?
You don't want to talk to them.
Why not?
My mother's an old bag.
Er.
That was a joke.
Oh, oh, right. Sure.
See? I'm funny. I can do comedy. I'm wasted sitting here in this dumpster with writing all over me. That dude, I swear.