Many sites are going dark today...

[FoodStampz]

...and you may not know why. So here is a list of websites that are still operating, but offer information about the SOPA and PIPA bills being passed through congress right now. I am really not a fan of this at all. As with many businesses (including RP) this would be really bad if passed.


Google says:

Two bills before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business. Millions of Internet users and entrepreneurs already oppose SOPA and PIPA.

The Senate will begin voting on January 24th. Please let them know how you feel. Sign this petition urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late.

https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

There is a lot of information on there, including a video to make it much easier to understand.

Here is a few more links for you to view.

SOPA STRIKE - Largest online protest in history - January 18 - blackout your site
SOPA Blackout Aims To Block Internet Censorship Bill
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikiped...tiative/Action
Tucows Inc. News » Blog Archive » Why We Don’t Like SOPA
XDA to Go Dark on Jan 18th at 8AM; You Can Help Bring Us Back Online | xda-developers
Mozilla to Join Tomorrow’s Virtual Protests of PIPA/SOPA | The Mozilla Blog


I could go on and on.

[MikeG]

I'm pretty sure trial lawyers are for it as well as the AFL-CIO. That's all I needed to know.

[FoodStampz]

Google has received over 4.5 million signatures today...
That's not counting the other websites that did something similar. Stellar.

[MikeG]

Google has received over 4.5 million signatures today...
That's not counting the other websites that did something similar. Stellar.

I think it's funny because the premise of the bill was that individual artists could go after companies that are the medium for the illegal use. Artists, unions, hollywood and trial lawyers wanted the bill because it opened the deeper pockets of corporations for lawsuits instead of giving them protections. Now they have to go after the guy who posted the material, not the hoster.

What I think is funny is that the big corporations worked the liberal masses like tools to protect themselves from lawsuits. It would be like Bank of America getting the Occupy Wall Street folks to march on Washington demanding they exempt banks from taxes so they don't implement a $2 debit card fee. Or maybe more analogous, getting the masses to insist that automobile manufacturers be exempt from lawsuits if one of their vendors parts failed.

Analogy:
"Oh, the fuel tanks Ford used were made by Joe the fuel tank maker down the street. We just installed it on the Ford Exploder so we're not liable. Current law says you have to sue Joe, not Ford since we stopped using them as soon as the dead people notified us they were exploding. (physical equivalent of DMCA)

Trial Lawyers/Unions - "Let's change DMCA so we can still sue Ford if they put Joe the Fuel Tank Makers's tanks on their car even if they change it upon a complaint. Those dead people are still dead. Besides, Joe is a union member and he needs protection too."

Ford: "We are stopping production of Ford Exploders for one day to show what happens if you make us more liable (SOPA). "

The Masses: "This additional liability is ridiculous! Their products just host the gas tank. Protect Ford from lawsuits!"

don't get me wrong - I'm against SOPA but only because it's the trial lawyers that stand to gain. It's not a safety hazard like the ford example but the main winners of SOPA are the democratic base and big corporations worked the dem base against it. that was entertaining to see.

replace Ford with Google/Yahoo/facebook/etc and that's basically what it is. For some reason, Google, Apple, etc have created a brand image of being "for the people" and Ford is a "big corporation".