From: Jessica Lawrence <jess...@nytm.org> Dear NY Tech Meetup Community –
Tomorrow, January 18, marks the one-year anniversary of the day when our community came together to help stop the now infamous SOPA/PIPA legislation that threatened Internet freedom and the growth of New York's tech enabled innovation economy. Thousands of us took to the streets in protest and the images from our demonstration and our voices were seen and heard around the world. Between our physical presence, the thousands of websites blacked out in protest, and the millions of calls and emails sent to Congress, the bills were stopped, for now. However, this anniversary is also bittersweet with the sad passing of Aaron Swartz this past weekend. Aaron was an active member of our community and was the closing speaker at our SOPA/PIPA rally last year (you can hear his words here, at 37:27 - http://new.livestream.com/nytm2012/nytm2012). Aaron was a passionate advocate for access to information and for a free and open Internet, and contributed significantly to the dialogue and push for progress in these key areas that have an impact on all of us. Friends of Aaron are planning a public memorial service for him this Saturday, January 19, at Cooper Union. Visit http://aaronswnyc.eventbrite.com/ for details and to RSVP. With Aaron in our memory, the coalition of organizations and individuals that came together last year to defeat SOPA and PIPA are declaring tomorrow #InternetFreedomDay. Help spread the word by joining this Thunderclap: https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/1039-internet-freedom-day and linking to *www.internetfreedomday.net* NY Tech Meetup will continue to be vigilant to not only protect the open Internet but to also make sure that the environment for growth of the NY tech community is as strong as possible. Thank you again for all that you do to make our community great. Best, The NYTM Team
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