We’ve been fighting the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act for months now, but unfortunately the chorus of others in the comic book industry vocally opposed have been few (but growing).
Yesterday I received the below and can proudly say that Fantagraphics Books has added their voice to those opposed to the legislation making them the largest publisher to do so. Below is a statement from their President:
“We are opposed to SOPA on the grounds that it gives the state too much unilateral authority to censor or exercise its power so that the result is effectively censorship once removed. It doesn’t provide sufficient safeguards to mitigate our concern over potential harm to free speech. Fantagraphics Books has been traditionally a proponent of 1st Amendment rights —we have vigorously fought four private lawsuits that have attempted to violate those rights— and although we also believe in intellectual property rights, we believe this bill is deleterious to the former and too draconian for the latter.” – Gary Groth, President of Fantagraphics Books
We applaud their stance and willingness to speak out and hope this encourages others in the comic book industry to join the growing vocal publishers, creators and bloggers opposed to this trampling on free speech. We also encourage everyone to show their support for Fantagraphics by Tweeting thanks and more importantly buy their books!
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Tags: censorship, comic books, comics, fantagraphics, fantagraphics books, free speech, pipa, protect ip, sopa, stop online piracy act
January 12, 2012 at 11:00 am |
[...] is one of two brave publishers willing to take a stand against the Stop Online Piracy Act (and we’ll be doing this for that other publisher too). They put out some great books and [...]
January 15, 2012 at 6:45 am |
[...] Policy: The Graphic Policy blog asked Gary Groth for his statement on Fantagraphics’ position on SOPA, the so-called [...]
January 15, 2012 at 6:47 am |
[...] Policy: The Graphic Policy blog asked Gary Groth for his statement on Fantagraphics’ position on SOPA, the so-called [...]
January 15, 2012 at 6:48 am |
[...] Policy: The Graphic Policy blog asked Gary Groth for his statement on Fantagraphics’ position on SOPA, the so-called [...]
January 15, 2012 at 6:50 am |
[...] Policy: The Graphic Policy blog asked Gary Groth for his statement on Fantagraphics’ position on SOPA, the so-called [...]
January 15, 2012 at 6:51 am |
[...] Policy: The Graphic Policy blog asked Gary Groth for his statement on Fantagraphics’ position on SOPA, the so-called [...]
January 15, 2012 at 6:54 am |
[...] Policy: The Graphic Policy blog asked Gary Groth for his statement on Fantagraphics’ position on SOPA, the so-called [...]
January 15, 2012 at 9:07 am |
[...] Policy: The Graphic Policy blog asked Gary Groth for his statement on Fantagraphics’ position on SOPA, the so-called [...]
January 18, 2012 at 1:00 pm |
[...] Fantagraphics [...]
January 18, 2012 at 1:55 pm |
the ideas that flow through the internet have helped shape the moderen world today and i refuse to see that flow of insparation creativity and this connecting fiber that bridges language politial and religous gaps dissapear im 17 and the thought of this disappearing depresses me facebook is one of the few ways that i contact distant relatis think about the issues this ould pose in moderen life
January 18, 2012 at 1:58 pm |
apologies for the spelling crappy keyboard
January 18, 2012 at 2:08 pm |
[...] Fantagraphics [...]
January 18, 2012 at 2:52 pm |
[...] Fantagraphics [...]
January 18, 2012 at 3:36 pm |
[...] Fantagraphics [...]
January 18, 2012 at 3:50 pm |
[...] strike today, but we are opposed to the bills — here’s the statement Gary Groth gave to Graphic Policy about it last week — and we want to thank everyone who’s expressed their support of our [...]
January 18, 2012 at 7:18 pm |
[...] Fantagraphics [...]
January 18, 2012 at 7:38 pm |
[...] Fantagraphics [...]
January 18, 2012 at 7:57 pm |
It wouldn’t be Groth without sprinkling his statement with a word like “deleterious” to go over the heads of the kind of people who think SOPA is a good idea.
January 18, 2012 at 11:14 pm |
[...] DreamHost Dyn eBay Embedly Engine Advocacy Entertainment Consumers Association ESET Etsy Facebook Fantagraphics foursquare Gandi Google GreenHostIt HostGator Hover I Can Has Cheezburger? IndieGoGoInternet [...]
January 19, 2012 at 9:56 am |
[...] Ellis and Fantagraphics have also come out against the bill, while Peter David, who is against the bill in its current [...]
January 22, 2012 at 7:00 pm |
[...] 17. Engine Advocacy 18. Entertainment Consumers Association 19. ESET 20. Etsy 21. Facebook 22. Fantagraphics 23. foursquare 24. Gandi 25. Google 26. GreenHostIt 27. HostGator 28. Hover 29. I Can Has [...]
April 25, 2012 at 3:38 pm |
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[...]Fantagraphics Books Comes Out Against #SOPA « Graphic Policy[...]…