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Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Politics / Teh Internets Happy SOPA Blackout Day!

Posted by Goldy on Wed, Jan 18, 2012 at 8:58 AM

Thousands (maybe tens of thousands) of websites have gone dark today in protest of H.R.3261 the "Stop Online Piracy Act" and S.968 "PROTECT IP," including such Internet mainstays as Wikipedia, Reddit, and at least one very prominent local political site. Other sites, like Google, are registering their protest in less dramatic ways.

There's also an Internet money-bomb making the rounds, urging people to "Vote for the Net" by donating money to the four US senators—two Democrats and two Republicans—who led the fight in the senate against the Internet blacklist provisions before this fight was popular. The two Dems? Oregon's Ron Wyden and Washington's own Maria Cantwell. She may not be one of the most likable politicians you'll ever meet, but Cantwell sure can be an effective legislator.

UPDATE: And from the Actions Speak Louder than Words Department, there's a very competitive race in the new, tech savvy 1st Congressional District, and only one candidate has joined the SOPA/PIPA protest by blacking out their own campaign website for the day. Can you guess which one? Of course: Darcy Burner.

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try mobile site:
http://en.mobile.wikipedia.org/

Posted by NotSean on January 18, 2012 at 9:13 AM

775 billion sites are dark in protest!

Posted by Max Solomon on January 18, 2012 at 9:16 AM

@2, hehe. They don't count if I never wanted to visit them anyway.

Posted by NotSean on January 18, 2012 at 9:19 AM

@ 3, they count if somebody wanted to visit them.

Posted by Matt from Denver on January 18, 2012 at 9:29 AM

If Goldy actually had balls, he'd stop posting for the entire fucking week (in protest of sopa of course).

Posted by pioneer on January 18, 2012 at 9:35 AM

@1

Or just turn off JavaScript. Or block BannerListLoader, with AdBlock for example.

http://mashable.com/2012/01/18/wikipedia…

Sharing information on how to circumvent a block would be a crime under SOPA by the way.

Posted by Ph'nglui mglw'nafh Cthulhu R'lyeh wgah'nagl fhtagn

on January 18, 2012 at 9:43 AM

@4 , don't forget to count all the sites that could've been created and then blacked out too.

Posted by NotSean on January 18, 2012 at 9:45 AM

Surprised that the Stranger and/or Slog isn't doing an anti-SOPA thing today. MAKE WITH THE BLACK BARS, PEOPLE

Posted by yelahneb

on January 18, 2012 at 11:01 AM

@8 Your surprised? I'm trying to think of single instance where The Stranger (as an entity) has really ever had the strength of actually living up to it's own purported convictions.

The whole point is go on a content strike. Not just decorative bars. SLOG and the online version of The Stranger should go dark for the full 12 hours.

So much for Goldy's "actions speaking louder than words."

Posted by tkc on January 18, 2012 at 11:09 AM

Grrr... "You're" My grammar is on strike.

Posted by tkc on January 18, 2012 at 11:16 AM

@ 7, you're a leotard.

Posted by Matt from Denver on January 18, 2012 at 11:46 AM

@11, now don't get mad. I thought we were playing the " How much can we pad a number " game. Mocking the SOPA supporters' own outrageous numbers.

Ah well, thread done. Moving on.

Posted by NotSean on January 18, 2012 at 12:59 PM