If you haven’t heard about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) so far, most are bound to have noticed Tuesday, January 18, 2012 when they were unable to get to many of their favorite sites from Wikipedia to Reddit to WordPress to Mozilla to Craigslist.
NEW: Where do members of Congress stand on SOPA
MUST WATCH VIDEOS: CBS C/Net Complicit in Piracy
SOPA LOSING SUPPORT VIDEO
Do not fall for the red herring that these bills – both SOPA (in the House) and Protect IP Act (PIPA) (in the Senate) are ONLY about stopping “renegade pirate sites”.
ANY site could be taken down!
MUST READ post: Click Image for MPAA Rant against SOPA Blackout
SOPA and PIPA are NOT only a threat to big sites.
See this MUST WATCH video:
Look at all the videos that have been removed from YouTube because of copyright violations. That could be YOUR blog or any site you visit!
“This bill is about using the government to shut
down the competition from bloggers, podcasters,
Web TV and other independent content creators.”
~ Rick Calvert, BlogWorld Co-Founder ~
SOPA and PIPA would make it simple for YOUR blog or favorite site to be “reported” and taken down or cut off from PayPal and other payment gateways without proof of wrongdoing or any chance to defend your innocence.
Wikipedia SOPA Blackout - What Wikipedia Looks Like Wed Jan 18 12:46 a.m. CST
Did you know that it is ILLEGAL to sing Happy Birthday in a restaurant
unless that restaurant pays royalties to the people who wrote that song?
Or that you could be found guilty and sentenced to up to FIVE YEARS
in prison for posting a video on your site or YouTube or anywhere else
online that contains any part of that song?
And some actually believe you should report others and
PAY UP if you unknowingly sang Happy Birthday to anyone!
GOOGLE SOPA BLACKOUT LOGO:
Google SOPA Logo
Google is NOT going dark – but they did post a message
“Tell Congress: Please don’t censor the web!”
MEDIA IN DENIAL:
As has been their usual response, major media ignores what they don’t want the public to know about for as long as they can:
“Living in what can only be described as pure denial, the MPAA announced today that the SOPA/PIPA protests “failed to enlist big sites.” Honestly, there’s really not much more to say about that. Google. Wikipedia. Facebook. Amazon. Craigslist. All participating. Let’s just stare in wonder at the MPAA’s hubris and ability to deny reality.” ~ TechDirt ~
HOW TO JOIN SOPA BLACKOUT:
- INSTANT >> Twitter Blackout SOPA Avatars
- WordPress SOPA PIPA Plugins
- How to SOPA Strike
- How To Blackout Your Site (For SOPA/PIPA) Without Hurting SEO
- Participating in the SOPA Black Out? Don’t Forget to SEO
- Stop American Censorship SOPA Strike – site includes huge list of participants in strike, ways to participate, and SOPA infographic with NO OBVIOUS WAY TO SHARE IT so go see their SOPA INFOGRAPHIC at WebProNews!
- Zachary Johnson’s blackout page
- ProtestSOPA.org
- CloudFlare’s Stop Censorship app
- SOPA Strike WordPress Plugin
- Did you make something? Tweet it to #StrikeTools
MORE INSANE LAWS
- SNOPES: Happy Birthday is STILL Protected by Copyright! Sing Happy Birthday and We’ll Sue!
- Techdirt: The Happy Birthday Copyright Saga: Generating Millions On A Copyright That May Not Exist
- Techdirt: Senators Want To Put People In Jail For Embedding YouTube Videos
- Techdirt: New Anti-Streaming Criminal Copyright Bill Could Mean Jail Time For Lip Synchers
WHAT IS SOPA?
- XLNT: The Super PIPA-SOPA Action Info Flowchart Reference Guide
- What All Marketers Need To Know About SOPA – The Stop Online Piracy Act
- The Big List Of SOPA Links
- Factbox: The ‘Stop Online Piracy Act‘ explained
- Kikolani: About SOPA and Today’s Blackout – Infographic, Video, and Call to Action
WHAT IS PIPA?
- TodayIRead: SOPA and PIPA will BREAK the Internet!
- ThatBaldChick’s position on SOPA PIPA Blackout
- AHens’Nest Videos and Details about Protesting Internet Censorship
WHAT IS COPPA?
- Proposed FTC COPPA Changes to the Children’s Online Privacy Protection Act includes yet ANOTHER call for a National ID – does NOT protect children but does threaten privacy, free speech and freedom.
EFFECTS of SOPA / PIPA:
- SOPA and PIPA bills could threaten natural health websites with government-ordered shutdown
- ?US Chamber Of Commerce Appears To Argue That SOPA & PIPA Apply To NO Websites At All
- ?If SOPA’s Main Target Is The Pirate Bay, It’s Worth Pointing Out That ThePirateBay.org Is Immune From SOPA
It was certainly great to see the voicing of protest against SOPA and PIPA last month. Hopefully the netizens can keep up the agitation against such bills in the future also because no doubt there will be more such bills.
-Jean
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More site need to stand up for their rights. The government need to get their hands off of our life.
SOPA was a big deal, I am glad so many companies and individuals stood up to fight against such a bad bill.
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SOPA and PIPA is not a good innovation for internet activities.it will definitely criple internet activities if the bill is past.mega upload went down,very soon they take in other sites including blogs.
Twitter: techtutshub
says:
I’m from India, but I guess all around the world there is a wave of happiness because of SOPA is not going on.
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I am late to this post, but I followed the SOPA protests closely. I am so happy to see the turnout, and to see all the politicians bailing from SOPA and PIPA.
Of course, the real danger is now that there has been a positive step, don’t let these guys sneak in legislation now that everyone feels it has been defeated. Laws like this always come back, like a liberty crushing zombie
Twitter: danlew
says:
SOPA and PIPA are already too much for us. Not only the US citizens, but it also affects us all around the world. It’s a good thing that now both of them are shelved, their big brother ACTA is approaching and more worse than that because its global.
We must put an end to this mess, no matter what stupid bill or treaty they created.
Dan Lew
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Twitter: elliepowell1912
says:
We’ve won the battle; but, I fear this is only the first of many attacks yet to come on our internet freedoms. I am encouraged at the effectiveness of our efforts to stop SOPA and PIPA. We each must remember what we did and be ready to do it again if/when the need arises.
Ellie
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Twitter: hypnodudeitaly
says:
Actually I think that the real goal of SOPA and PIPA was to divert attention from ACTA which affects more or less the whole world instead of just the USA. And it has been already passed by the Europen Union and signed by some world leaders. Obama has been one of the first to do it. That’s why I think that the real goal was to pass ACTA and they succeded. Now Acta should pass votes in every country but there are some like Italy where it will surely be approved. Well, we’ll still stand and defend freedom.
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Twitter: tophatmoney
says:
DON’T THINK WE’VE WON!
SOPA was only the beginning.
There is a similar bill going through European courts at the moment.
ACTA http://www.webpronews.com/pushing-back-against-acta-2012-01 will police every internet user in the world and will destroy the internet as we know it, no sites with user generated content will be viable; that includes YouTube, Twitter etc. all blogs or forums, all sites with any kind of commentary, basically everything except corporate sites where every word is about 1 safe subject.
Sign the petition here http://www.avaaz.org/en/eu_save_the_internet_spread/
Help spread the word, we need to get to 1.5million signatures in the next couple of days.
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ACTA is most certainly worse. It could be argued SOPA was a planned failure so we didn’t see ACTA.
You must never sit back. Please oppose ACTA! http://www.avaaz.org/en/eu_save_the_internet_spread/
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Made me feel proud as a citizen of the web to see so many sites banding together to protest SOPA. I was really impressed with the job Google did with their blacked out logo that led to the petition to stop the bill. I must have saw that link shared twenty times on Facebook during the day. Hopefully that big wave will knock these ridiculous bills out.
Twitter: katiepecbvda
says:
I don’t think I have heard of a single person who likes SOPA. I really hope it doesn’t pass. With this much opposition to it, it seems like it would be very stupid of the government to pass it.
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Take some time and writ an email to your state Representatives. I spent a little time and received some good responses on the issue. I was clear in my emails that I was watching and would not vote for someone who would support this bill.
We should take a bold position against this sopa.Some take great initiatives i am really support this.
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One has to wonder if this is only the beginning of the battle. Even with this legislation defeated how long will it be until they try to ram the same thing by adding it to some necessary legislation like a defence spending bill. We’ve all seen this sad charade play out in the past. If we know anything these guys won’t go away just because they are defeated once.
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Twitter: davidsneen
says:
These bills are more than a bit worrisome. It seems George Orwell’s 1984 was misdated, but…could have been labeled 2012.
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I shut down my site for the day too! What a well put together protest… It’s a shame that the NDAA didn’t get the same amount of attention.
Twitter: rahulmehta749
says:
SOPA gone now .. yuppieee ..!!!
thanks to all fellow bloggers for protesting against this .
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Twitter: tophatmoney
says:
It’ll be back in some guise or other, while everyone is happy about defeating it and off guard it’ll undergo a name change and slip in under the radar.
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Twitter: avril1515
says:
Last week when I was trying to open seokudos.com.., it redirects into a strange website(which I didn’t know what SOPA is all about). But now I understand about it, thanks for this.
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With the increasing support against SOPA and PIPA, the government has delayed the introduction of this bill but the fight should not stop here. We need to gather more and more support as possible as the government will go out of its way to try and introduce this bill in the next session. Internet belongs to everyone and it is answerable to none.