Following the online activism that led to the demise of the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act, some of the same cast of characters are forming a new entity under the name of the Internet Defense League. Members of the group — which purports to protect the Internet from “bad laws and monopolies” — include Reddit, Cheezburger, WordPress, Craiglist’s Craig Newmark and others, reports All Things D.

“The Internet Defense League takes the tactic that killed SOPA & PIPA and turns it into a permanent force for defending the internet, and making it better,” notes a message on the Web site. “Think of it like the internet’s Emergency Broadcast System, or its bat signal!”

Here’s more on how the system will work:

“When the internet’s in danger and we need millions of people to act, the League will ask its members to broadcast an action.  (Say, a prominent message asking everyone to call their elected leaders.)  With the combined reach of our websites and social networks, we can be massively more effective than any one organization.”

The league plans a more formal launch in the coming days as Congress returns to session, according to All Things D.

Cheezburger CEO Ben Huh, who was instrumental in the fight against SOPA and PIPA, shared some of his views on the importance of protecting the Internet at a conference in Seattle earlier this year.

“What this is about is that we like the Internet and protect the Internet because we think it is going to be good for humanity and business and commerce and education and for free speech and for politics and all of the things that go with the world’s largest connected system,” he said. We like that. And we are not fearful of the unintended side effects of what a great Internet can do, because we’ve come this far. We have made society this much better. We’ve created this many jobs on an unfettered Internet.”

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