Protests staged at NY senators' offices

100s of protesters switched out Wednesday outdoors top of the East Side offices to NY Sens. Chuck Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand to protest the questionable antipiracy legislation now wending through Congress. However the event was far in the raucous crowds that collected a couple of several weeks ago for that Occupy Wall Street demos. A feeling of calm won, with protesters mostly staying away from chanting too noisally, along with a couple of police herding compliant viewers into well-maintained protest zones. Third Avenue was blocked off between 48th and 49th roads to permit the protest. The speeches, however, were rousing: "The Stop Online Piracy Act won't really do much to prevent online piracy!" stated NYU teacher and "Cognitive Surplus" author Clay Shirky, who suggested the title from the legislation be transformed towards the First Amendment Sunset Act. "You cannot just shut people up if you do not like what they are saying!" he told the entertaining aud. Hollywood required its protuberances in the rally, organized through the networking org NY Tech Meetup. "When Hollywood insurance supporters appear with $94 million because they did this past year, both Dems and Republicans fall into line,Inch stated Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian. MoveOn.org's Eli Pariser being more adamant: "You've groups like MoveOn completely to groups like (conservative coalition) Red-colored Condition who think this can be a bad idea," he stated. "The only real individuals who think this is an excellent idea would be the falling apart old legacy media who would like to return to VHS tapes and Compact disks and congresspeople." Contact Mike Thielman at mike.thielman@variety.com