On January 18, join Reddit and the country in protesting SOPA.
Reddit announced they will black out their site January 18 for 12 hours in protest of the US government’s pursuit of the horrible SOPA act:
The freedom, innovation, and economic opportunity that the Internet enables is in jeopardy. Congress is considering legislation that will dramatically change your Internet experience and put an end to reddit and many other sites you use everyday. Internet experts, organizations, companies, entrepreneurs, legal experts, journalists, and individuals have repeatedly expressed how dangerous this bill is. If we do nothing, Congress will likely pass the Protect IP Act (in the Senate) or the Stop Online Piracy Act (in the House), and then the President will probably sign it into law. There are powerful forces trying to censor the Internet, and a few months ago many people thought this legislation would surely pass. However, there’s a new hope that we can defeat this dangerous legislation.
We’ve seen some amazing activism organized by redditors at /r/sopa and across the reddit community at large. You have made a difference in this fight; and as we near the next stage, and after much thought, talking with experts, and hearing the overwhelming voices from the reddit community, we have decided that we will be blacking out reddit on January 18th from 8am–8pm EST (1300–0100 UTC).
Join the many who have researched this bill and found it not just lacking but a crime against the foundations upon which this country was built. Join James Wales, founder of Wikipedia, Brian Gardner of Copyblogger, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Riot Games, Robert Scoble, and the thousands and thousands of web publishers and experts saying NO to SOPA.
If you are on the self-hosted version of WordPress, Stop SOPA Ribbon WordPress Plugin. I’m sure there will be a SOPA Blackout WordPress Plugin coming soon.
If you are on WordPress.com, it’s harder to blackout your blog completely unless WordPress.com offers an option to black out our blogs in protest on January 18. So I’m offering an alternative.
Below are two graphic options for you to choose from (or make your own) to post on your blog. Create a future post for all day January 18 with one of these graphics filling the post. Click on them to get to the full size and copy and upload them to your site. You are welcome to use them freely.
WordPress has come out strongly against SOPA/PIPA including sharing this video to help you learn more.
For more information on SOPA and its potential impact on your Internet experience, check out Reddit’s Community for the Opposition of the “Stop Online Piracy Act”.
Want to take more action, which we all recommend, read Gigaom’s Hate SOPA? 6 things you can do to stop it.
Honestly, I’m not sure if congress is listening as the protests have been loud and long and the number of people signing the petitions is great, so it is more important than ever that our voices are heard. Stop this threat now.
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15 Comments
How will SOPA affect anyone outside the USA? I live in Toronto Canada. USA law stops about 1 1/2 away from me.
Also, no US congress person/US president/US state governor/etc… would listen to me (your favourite Canadian).
@Miroslav: You shouldn’t have such a narrow perspective all the time. You could influence your readers, many of whom come from beyond your borders.
I am genuinely interested in what the impact of SOPA will be outside the US. If you don’t know, that’s cool, but don’t label people as ‘narrow’ for asking.
@Anonymous: Trust me, when it comes to Miroslav, he appreciates that sentiment. Please don’t confuse a long friendship-specific snark as a blatant label.
You ask as serious question that plagues me, and has for many years. The laws in the UK and elsewhere are often harsher and better designed than in the United States. The US laws tend to work in what we call “fire department mode.” We only respond to fires not prevention. Laws are also created based upon an action to a minority of citizens rather than the mass. We have many laws in place that force the entire citizenship to obey that actually impacts less than 10,000 people a year. I’m not arguing whether or not this is good thinking, but the fact that good thinking doesn’t always count when it comes to US law.
It used to be that the US was the trendsetter when it came to forward thinking laws, but that hasn’t been true in decades, especially when it comes to privacy and Internet laws. The US is terribly behind.
To answer your question, I’d turn to better examples like the UK for intelligent thought and discussion on how these laws should work. Hopefully, the narrow-mindedness of what goes in and comes out of our Congress won’t spread outside our borders. And THAT is a label. 😀
Hi Lorelle
Nice idea a whole black post for a day….wonder how we could do more to stop those morons.
I just wrote a simple backout plugin, it may show up in the repo soon but for now you can get it at http://bandonrandon.wordpress.com/sopa/. I’m looking for a graphic designer and developer to help with a few things too. Contact me if intrested.
I’m trying to run a similar campaign in Germany. German Pirate-Party seems to support you anyway 😉
Como uma decisão política tomada a partir dos Estados Unidos da América, irá afetar toda a população do planeta que fazem uso da internet? talvez haja uma explicação lógica, que seria o fato de as gigantes Google e Microsoft terem suas sedes naquele país. Temos esperança de esse projeto seja de fato reprovado.
Gracias. Me temo que los países fuera de los Estados Unidos de América pueden seguir nuestro ejemplo en el que muchos de ellos tienen una mejor protección legal para los usuarios de la Internet.
Thank you, Lorelle, for posting this information! Appreciate it.
I also encourage everyone to “black out” their status messages on social networks and instant messengers. for example the following message would work well: This status is currently being blocked due to SOPA and/or PIPA. Contact your representatives to correct this. http://goo.gl/hC63K
Lorelle, I’ve got simple instructions on my blog for blacking out one’s WordPress.com blog. It involves no more than copying and pasting a bit of code into a simple text widget.
Or use the new settings option that WP just put up this evening. Dashboard > Settings > Protest SOPA/PIPA
Lorelle,
Thank you for Being a spokesperson for this vitally necessary protest.
Reblogged this on El País de la Luna Oscura and commented:
Para todos: Ciudadanos o no de estados unidos, esta ley nos afecta. Aunque por el momento fue rechazada. Existe la posibilidad de que vuelva.
Más vale estar pendientes…
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[…] Reference: https://lorelle.wordpress.com/2012/01/11/january-18-join-reddit-in-a-national-blackout-day-of-protest… The freedom, innovation, and economic opportunity that the Internet enables is in jeopardy. Congress is considering legislation that will dramatically change your Internet experience and put an end to reddit and many other sites you use everyday. Internet experts, organizations, companies, entrepreneurs, legal experts, journalists, and individuals have repeatedly expressed how dangerous this bill is. If we do nothing, Congress will likely pass the Protect IP Act (in the Senate) or the Stop Online Piracy Act (in the House), and then the President will probably sign it into law. There are powerful forces trying to censor the Internet, and a few months ago many people thought this legislation would surely pass. However, there’s a new hope that we can defeat this dangerous legislation. Share this:EmailFacebookPrintTwitterDiggLike this:LikeBe the first to like this post. […]
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