With SOPA gone, setting Internet advocacy’s next stop

In January, several tech companies aided by a groundswell of support from communities across the Web fought to derail a pair of online piracy bills — and won. Since the fight against the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP (Intellectual Property) Act ended, there’s been a lot of discussion about where, exactly to direct all that energy.

Reddit and the site’s co-founder Alexis Ohanian have an idea: they’re launching a bus tour that will introduce the Internet itself as a player in the 2012 election. “The bus will be half-red and half-blue, with ‘Internet 2012’ on the side of it, where the candidate’s name would be,” Ohanian said. The tour kicks off in Denver, Colo. — the site of the first presidential debate — and will conclude in the city that hosts the first vice-presidential debate, Danville (KY). It may be an old-school tactic, but Ohanian and the other members of his tour are doing more than taking a road trip. They’ll be on a mission to get protections for Internet openness into the platforms for both parties, meaning that they want to see politicians commit to preserving free expression, access and privacy online.