A number of high profile websites are going dark today to protest the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA). The bills are designed to protect intellectual property holders by toughening measures against copyright infringers. Opponents say that aspects of the bill pose grave threats to free speech and internet entrepreneurship, with some high profile webmasters claiming that the bill, if passed, would threaten the very existence of their sites despite not hosting copyright-infringing material directly. Wikipedia,
Reddit and Boing Boing are among the sites effectively shutting down today. News source
Google darkened their image as well Read more HERE
When I uploaded to Flickr today I saw this message For more information see http://blog.flickr.net/.
Unbridaled laws could plumet the whole of humanity into a dark age. We need to tread carefully as a peoples when we face new territories. The internet is a monster and taming it will alway present rishs.
HI BETH!!!
I'm in the minority on this one and NDAA. I favor this law because it extends protections already afforded to American-based innovators to the entire world. Right now, enterprises that want to steal intellectual property just move outside the US. SOPA allows the US government to protect the intellectual property of its citizens from foreign poachers.
The link that Wiki lists to contact my representative is "having technical difficulties" loading. I assume that means the number of contacts has brought their server down.
Thanks for the update on this Beth! I knew there was something going on involving website blackouts as a form of protest - but just never had the time to check! Thank you!!!
No problem here. I just went and found something else to do!
I agree with the black out entirely.
I think America will be a universally despised country if things like Wikipedia go down because of it.
@dingdongdingbat - I'm with you!!! Luckily for me, I had to work today and didn't have to worry too much about being on the computer, until I got home anyway. But then, I don't really go to all those other websites who are participating in this blackout..
Vague language.
I don't really know how I feel about this... I don't fully understand it is the problem.
Not only dark but some sites are soooo slooow!
I hope that this protest helps and brings attention where it needs too.
I hope this protest works because we won't stand for it. I even blacked out my tumblr site for it..
Firefox is doing that too the whole page is black like the wikipedia one
I was watching CNN today, and they spent a few seconds on how there were people who liked the bill, and there were people who didn't like the bill, then mentioned that CNN supported it. Unlike other controversial legislation they've reported on in the past, they made no mention of any single word contained or not contained in the bill. Yet if this bill had been a blonde three-year-old child the whole nation would know its insides as well as its outsides.
Disappointing.
I agree with the blackouts. I even signed the petition on Google.
@Aloysius_son - I couldn’t agree with you any better but I must say that this country (and abroad) has and is already heading down that route. When it comes to “Unbridled laws” in THIS country the old and new ones have been and IS setting the stage for something deafening. This country has been on a spiral “plumet” since thegovernment and banks inception here. And you’re exactly right we do need to tread carefully as a people. WE as a people have already allowed the powers that be to “pervert” our government and its power. You were right when you said that taming the internet will always present risks…lol the internet is an entity of its own that was never meant for taming. The day us Americans realize that we’ve been used to make someone else rich…a dark age would be an understatement
@sometimestheycomebackanyway - you're 150% right - on one aspect. I could not and will not debate with you on that in which I agree with you on strongly. But I would be naive to not thoroughly see the other side of the track. If our government is going to go after the little guys the playing field must be the same for all (which will never be). Trust and believe that even though these laws were definitely meant to protect the interests of Americans ideas and etc...it will do more harm and play more unfair than intended. This is like medication commercials on tv to treat health issues but towards the end of the commercial they also state the side affects (that could do more harm than good)...smh...I guess - lets sit back and watch aye...
Comments (18)
Unbridaled laws could plumet the whole of humanity into a dark age. We need to tread carefully as a peoples when we face new territories. The internet is a monster and taming it will alway present rishs.
HI BETH!!!
I'm in the minority on this one and NDAA. I favor this law because it extends protections already afforded to American-based innovators to the entire world. Right now, enterprises that want to steal intellectual property just move outside the US. SOPA allows the US government to protect the intellectual property of its citizens from foreign poachers.
The link that Wiki lists to contact my representative is "having technical difficulties" loading. I assume that means the number of contacts has brought their server down.
Thanks for the update on this Beth! I knew there was something going on involving website blackouts as a form of protest - but just never had the time to check! Thank you!!!
No problem here. I just went and found something else to do!
I agree with the black out entirely.
I think America will be a universally despised country if things like Wikipedia go down because of it.
Good news, it's having an affect!
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2012/01/sopa-blackout-sopa-and-pipa-lose-three-co-sponsors-in-congress.html
@dingdongdingbat - I'm with you!!! Luckily for me, I had to work today and didn't have to worry too much about being on the computer, until I got home anyway. But then, I don't really go to all those other websites who are participating in this blackout..
Vague language.
I don't really know how I feel about this... I don't fully understand it is the problem.
Not only dark but some sites are soooo slooow!
I hope that this protest helps and brings attention where it needs too.
I hope this protest works because we won't stand for it. I even blacked out my tumblr site for it..
Firefox is doing that too the whole page is black like the wikipedia one
I was watching CNN today, and they spent a few seconds on how there were people who liked the bill, and there were people who didn't like the bill, then mentioned that CNN supported it. Unlike other controversial legislation they've reported on in the past, they made no mention of any single word contained or not contained in the bill. Yet if this bill had been a blonde three-year-old child the whole nation would know its insides as well as its outsides.
Disappointing.
I agree with the blackouts. I even signed the petition on Google.
@Aloysius_son - I couldn’t
agree with you any better but I must say that this country (and abroad) has and
is already heading down that route. When it comes to “Unbridled laws” in THIS
country the old and new ones have been and IS setting the stage for something
deafening. This country has been on a spiral “plumet” since thegovernment and banks inception here. And you’re
exactly right we do need to tread carefully as a people. WE as a people have
already allowed the powers that be to “pervert” our government and its power. You
were right when you said that taming the internet will always present risks…lol
the internet is an entity of its own that was never meant for taming. The day
us Americans realize that we’ve been used to make someone else rich…a dark age
would be an understatement
@sometimestheycomebackanyway - you're 150% right - on one aspect. I could not and will not debate with you on that in which I agree with you on strongly. But I would be naive to not thoroughly see the other side of the track. If our government is going to go after the little guys the playing field must be the same for all (which will never be). Trust and believe that even though these laws were definitely meant to protect the interests of Americans ideas and etc...it will do more harm and play more unfair than intended. This is like medication commercials on tv to treat health issues but towards the end of the commercial they also state the side affects (that could do more harm than good)...smh...I guess - lets sit back and watch aye...