Congressman Jared Polis (D-CO) knows a thing or two about the internet. After graduating from Princeton, Polis proceeded to make millions dabbling in e-commerce, founding sites such as American Information Systems, bluemountain.com, and Proflowers.com. In sharp contrast to many of his colleagues (one of whom famously explained the internet "is not a big truck -- it's a series of tubes"), Polis not only understands how the internet works, but also why it functions as it does.
As lawmakers debate the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), an act Polis has criticized for "the harm it could do to legitimate online commerce and innovation, free speech, cybersecurity, and the technical infrastructure of the internet," the representative deserves kudos for highlighting some of the legislation's more outlandish aspects. Especially, Polis believes, attempting to apply SOPA to the pornography industry.
In a December 15th speech (watch above), Polis highlighted this issue by entering into the Congressional Record a song from Broadway's Avenue Q titled "The Internet Is For Porn." Polis stopped short of reading aloud the lyrics, clarifying "my amendment would simply ensure that American tax dollars are not used to protect the intellectual property rights of pornographic or obscene websites," but the lyrics are safely in the record.
WATCH Avenue Q's Broadway performance of 'The Internet Is For Porn' (WARNING: sexually suggestive language):