SOPA Foes Launch What They Bill as Early Internet Threat Warning System

Groups say they will band together to thwart Internet "threats"

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 7/17/2012 12:22:31 PM

Taking a page out of the comic books, some of the same groups that opposed the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) have formed the Internet Defense League, describing itself as a digital version of the "bat signal," used to alert Batman of trouble in Gotham.

In this case, the digital alert will be a code that allows websites or individuals to broadcast an alert to their personal networks.

The group, whose members include Rep. Darrell Issa (R-Calif.), Public Knowledge, Reddit, Mozilla and the Electronic Frontier Foundation, according to an IDL spokesperson, will launch July 19 with kick-off parties events in four cities, the real Gotham (New York), San Francisco, Washington and Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia (where one IDL member resides).

The IDL describes itself as "thousands of websites, groups, and individuals who can immediately respond to threats to the Internet." It also plans to be a permanent coalition with a goal of mobilizing millions.

The IDL is a project of nonprofit Fight for the Future, which sponsored a number of anti-SOPA campaigns.