Forums » Smalltalk » More on the SOPA

This is interesting...Sites like, google, amazon, twitter, FB and wikipedia are considering a blackout of their services in order to demonstrate what SOPA could potentially do to any website that allowed user-generated content.

...Is it a bad thing that I actually think this is a good idea? And I'm especially amazed that they're considering this, because they're such big-buck companies and they'd be losing money. But I guess in the long run if it kept their companies open, a short time of downtime would be worth it.

I especially like what the person said in the article about it not being confined to the US. This is true.

I hope they do because it will really demonstrate just how bad this thing could be. Not only that but should increase awareness to those who take the internet for granted without paying attention to things like SOPA.

I'm not saying it's a bad thing in the least I think it's a very very good idea! Like Darth says it would demonstrate what it would be like if it were to come in effect.

I absolutely agree. If SOPA goes through, other world governments will be put under a lot of pressure to pass the same kind of laws as well.

When the blackouts happen, I think, like the article's author, that they explain why the sites are going down, rather than just say they are unavailable.

I would hope so. some people are so attached to sites like FB and Twitter that there'd be an uproar. I'm a fb junkie, but could live with out it

I think they should absolutely do this. I live in the US and I didn't even know what SOPA was until a friend living in Canada told me about it, and it's not even affecting him! People would probably get mad, but if instead of just going down entirely, people were redirected to a page explaining things I think it could help a lot.

Oh don't be fooled, it's affecting everyone. I'm still hoping common sense prevails - even though I still have my doubts.

It really does affect everyone, regardless of country. It can be summed up in one fact:

Verisign (a US company) owns ALL .com, .net and .org domain registries. If this law passes in the US, that means Verisign would have to take down ANY .com, .net or .org site they are ordered to. No one in any country would be able to get to the blocked domain any longer, because it would cease to exist.

This is the USA congress you're talking about. An individual person may have a modicum of common sense here - if you're lucky - but a gathering of Americans trying to make a decision? Pray to whatever pancakes you worship.

Little side note.. GoDaddy supports SOPA. One of my favourite sites ended up moving hosting services with them and were encouraging others to do so if they had services with GoDaddy.

Last I heard, GoDaddy actually renounced their support for SOPA after their business took a nasty hit from people like your friends moving their hosting.

GoDaddy has indeed renounced their SOPA support.

I like this.

I heard that too.

Oh huh! It must've been in the last few weeks or so. Glad to hear!

You know, I brought this up as casual conversation at Gamestop the other day, and my manager was horrified--she'd never heard of SOPA or any of the related movements. I was shocked that she didn't know, she's a very on the ball businesswoman who tends to have her finger on the pulse of the industry and everything attached. It just goes to show who can be oblivious to it regardless, and how much this kind of blackout is necessary. I told her not to be shocked if her major sites all stop working one day. She laughed and thanked me, saying I probably prevented her from thinking 2012 was taking effect. END OF THE WORLD!!!!

I would be in favor of a blackout. I'm not sure that the general public is even aware of this - it hasn't gotten much coverage on tv as far as I know, and if it has, it's been covered by people who have no idea what they're talking about; however, if it was simplified for the general public by saying "You hear that youtube and facebook might go away because of this bill that's going through the house? Crazy stuff, maaan." I'm sure people would suddenly be all about this.

Reddit has announced they are going ahead with a blackout on the 18th.

Link

I really hope others will do the same.

I'm in favor of the blackouts, and I keep a tab open for Facebook permanently!