Ask gaming company Electronic Arts to oppose the Internet censorship bill.

Congress has a plan to change the Internet forever. A bill they’re debating right now would give the government power to shut down whole websites, and even let corporations say which websites should be shut down.

That means a huge corporation could have any website even suspected of violating a copyright shut down — no questions asked. The government could then completely block all access to sites as big as Facebook or YouTube if one person posts one thing on those websites that corporations don’t want online.

Most major entertainment companies have come out in support of the bill, but despite swirling rumors, the huge video-gaming company Electronic Arts (EA) has yet to take an official stance. However, EA is part of the Entertainment Software Association, one of the big corporate lobbyists for the bill to censor the Internet — meaning that if EA came out against the bill, that would be a serious blow to the people trying to get it passed.

Shashank Kasturirangan is a student at NYU who’s a huge fan of gaming — including EA’s games — but he can’t believe that EA would want to mess with the Internet. Shashank started a petition on Change.org calling on Electronic Arts to stop lobbying for Congress’s plan to censor the Internet and come out against the bill. Click here to add your name to his petition.

The Internet censorship bill is particularly dangerous, according to advocates, because it would enable the government to set up the same type of tools to block online content that are used in repressive regimes around the world, like China, Iran, and Syria. For the first time, corporations and the government would be able to say what’s acceptable to put on the Internet.

While some companies like Google, Facebook, and Twitter have come out against the bill, big movie studios, record companies, and their corporate lobbyists like the Entertainment Software Association are pushing Congress hard to pass Internet censorship.

Electronic Arts has millions of customers around the world playing video games like Madden 2012, The Sims, and Scrabble, and they care deeply about what the public thinks about their company. If enough people call on EA to oppose the plan to censor the Internet, they will be forced to come out against the bill. And if EA backs off, other companies that haven’t yet taken a position will certainly think twice before supporting Congress’s plan to censor the Internet.

Sign Shashank’s petition to Electronic Arts to stop lobbying for Internet censorship and oppose the bill in Congress. Click here to sign.

Thanks for being a change-maker,

– Jess and the Change.org team