Now, 'cat signal' Internet Defense League formed to fight for online freedom

Washington, May 27 (ANI): A non profit group in the U.S. that was behind the protest against anti-piracy bills SOPA and PIPA has now formed a new coalition aimed at fighting for Internet freedom.

The group has formed the Internet Defense League, an organization of people who support Internet freedom and have pledged to fight for it using whatever powers they have.

The group is likening itself to the Internet's 'cat signal,' The Los Angeles Times reports.

"The Internet Blackout was just the beginning," the league founders write on a Web page announcing the project.

"Together, our websites and personal networks can mobilize the planet to defend the Internet from bad laws and monopolies. Are you in?" they added.

Tiffiniy Cheng, co-founder of Fight for the Future who is spearheading the project, said WordPress, Reddit and the Cheeseburger network have already signed up to be part of the league and that Wikipedia, the largest website to take part in the anti-SOPA protest, is also considering membership.

"With the current sites signed up we have a combined reach of tens of millions, if not hundreds of millions of people," the paper quoted Cheng, as saying.

"We are taking the network and tactics of the SOPA fight that we created and turning it into a permanent force," Cheng added.

When asked why the signal for Internet action is a cat, Cheng said it has to do with Ethan Zuckerman's cute cat theory of digital activism, which posits that the same tools that help people share cute cat photos can also be used for online activism. (ANI)