Wednesday, January 18, 2012

SOPA Blackout Day


So you have probably noticed, today is the blackout day for many popular websites (reddit, fark, wikipedia) as well as protests by even larger websites such as google (check their logo).  SOPA as well as the Protect IP act present a threat not only in terms of censorship on the internet, but a threat to the functionality of the internet itself.  I know my blog and probably a lot of yours would be shut down.  Imagine if your parents or grandparents decided to create rules governing the internet.  Yes, it's that bad.  SOPA even at one point had provisions to redirect DNS requests, which would undermine the functionality of the internet.

Here's a video that expands on some of the threats:

In any case, we love the internet.  I'd hate to think that these are the wild west times, which we'll one day look back on fondly and recount the tales of to our children's children.  Hopefully the internet will continue to exist in it's unadulterated form.  You can help with this.

I suggest you contact your local Congressman today and express your displeasure with the Act, particularly if your Congressman has voted for SOPA and Protect IP.  We may know this as a big issue on the internet because we spend a lot of time here, but unfortunately SOPA still hasn't garnered a lot of mainstream attention.

So speak out, and keep vigilant on all legislation.  The internet response to this bill has been great, but a lot of other questionable legislation can slip through the cracks.

You can find contact information for your local Congressman here:
http://www.house.gov/representatives/

Edit: handy-dandy video

14 comments:

  1. Yep it's a load of crap, that needs to die, stupid that it made it this far.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hopefully the blackout will make people more aware of it.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Glad to see more people aware of this! Thanks for spreading the word!

    And all you Americans out there! Call your Congressman! This is important!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Good to see I'm not the only one posting about this. Keep up the good fight!

    ReplyDelete
  5. Blast that load of shit down the toilet!

    ReplyDelete
  6. Glad to see more people aware about SOPA/PIPA.

    ReplyDelete
  7. spread the word brothers! i blacked out my tumblr and other social networking websites to help raise awareness

    ReplyDelete
  8. SOPA and PIPA both need to be shut down. It's good to see all these people spreading the information!

    ReplyDelete
  9. I just wanna use Wikipedia but I can't until midnight...

    ReplyDelete
  10. It wont pass. Even if it did it wont be to hard to bypass SOPA

    They can take their bill and shove it up their ass.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Nice work spreading the info... keep it up!

    ReplyDelete
  12. stinking sad that the old white men who are running the country either do not understand this, or they are doing it just to line their pockets.

    ReplyDelete
  13. I'd call Blackout Day a success, though the bastards gave us a show of force taking down Megaupload hours later. We got the last laugh today, however :P

    ReplyDelete