Can we turn off the net as a protest?

Atomicjuicer

Some major sites are deliberately shutting down next Wednesday to protest SOPA and PIPA - two incoming American laws that could destroy "free speech" online.

I think boards should go down in protest too.

http://www.forbes.com/sites/insertcoin/2012/01/11/reddits-sopa-blackout-admirable-but-google-and-facebook-must-follow/

johnnyrotten

no

chin_grin

Isn't the reasoning behind this is because GoDaddy a web hosting company supports SOPA and those sites are based on it? Boards going down for a day wouldn't mean much to be honest.

Cossax

chin_grin wrote: »

Isn't the reasoning behind this is because GoDaddy a web hosting company supports SOPA and those sites are based on it? Boards going down for a day wouldn't mean much to be honest.

Not anymore, they don't - believe they lost a number of the sites that were rumoured to be participating and were forced into changing their views on SOPA.

voojeq

Cossax wrote: »

Not anymore, they don't - believe they lost a number of the sites that were rumoured to be participating and were forced into changing their views on SOPA.

Exactly, GoDaddy got pwned by their own customers because of this and had to change their views

Gambler

I'd support Boards going dark in support of the protest. Here's a pretty good post about why websites outside of the US should support the blackout too:

http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/533

fasttalkerchat

If they go ahead with SOPA and it is enforced then Boards would have broken the law within hours. Look at how many links are posted on here.

Khannie

Gambler wrote: »

I'd support Boards going dark in support of the protest. Here's a pretty good post about why websites outside of the US should support the blackout too:

http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/533

I read that article earlier. Wasn't sure how dramatic it was being and I didn't have time to investigate further. Is there any other stuff worth reading before I go and make a twonk of myself by suggesting it to the other admins?

berrypendel

what about this guy?

PseudoFamous

berrypendel wrote: »

what about this guy?

What about him?


Anyway, may as well burst on and do a blackout, as it does affect us here in Ireland too, far, far more directly than is comfortable.

berrypendel

PseudoFamous wrote: »

What about him?
.

claims to have beatenSOPA with magick

Anyway, may as well burst on and do a blackout, as it does affect us here in Ireland too, far, far more directly than is comfortable

true

wp_rathead

gonna hope alot of this is just scaremongering
this legislation is too dumb to be credible
mind you this is a country which up until last year had a Don't Ask Don't Tell policy so anything is possible..

Gambler

Gambler wrote: »

I'd support Boards going dark in support of the protest. Here's a pretty good post about why websites outside of the US should support the blackout too:

http://www.raspberrypi.org/archives/533

Taking mine offline for the next couple days myself - read and re-read the arguments for and against and I really think the more people and sites we get on board the better. boards.ie should join the fight :P

http://www.irishupandcomingmusicscene.tk/wordpressopen/?p=65 is just a general article with quoted references

http://wordpress.org/news/2012/01/help-stop-sopa-pipa/

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vjrPuYLAIkk

http://blog.reddit.com/2012/01/stopped-they-must-be-on-this-all.html

The info out there is quite biased but have a good google and a read - personally I can see this law been abused and it will have a far reaching effect. Its a matter of opinion to an extent but looking at all the possible ramifications I think this law is open to massive abuse by private interests

Khannie

warlikedave wrote: »

boards.ie should join the fight :P

Ah I was using this thread to judge whether or not to push the issue and it's been fairly quiet tbh.

This is worth a read:

http://waterfordwhispersnews.com/2012/01/18/wit-students-assignment-in-jeopardy-as-wikipedia-blacks-out-for-day-of-protest/

aidan_walsh

Meh. You turn off boards and I guarantee you that far more people will be annoyed with boards going away than will actually care about why it did. Look at where the Wikipedia/SOPA discussion is going today.

aidan_walsh

That said, for anyone who is interested Clay Shirkey gives a pretty good overview of whats happening in a TED Talk yesterday.

http://www.ted.com/talks/defend_our_freedom_to_share_or_why_sopa_is_a_bad_idea.html

Khannie

aidan_walsh wrote: »

Meh. You turn off boards and I guarantee you that far more people will be annoyed with boards going away than will actually care about why it did. Look at where the Wikipedia/SOPA discussion is going today.

I'd say that's mostly because the people who think it's a moderately good idea (like me) aren't going to stand up and rant about how they think it's a moderately good idea. On the flip side you have the crazies and the trolls and the cranks....churning out rant after rant.