Stop-SOPA-youtube

January 18th is setting up to be a day to remember. Websites around the web are joining forces by participating in a massive internet strike. Websites will be striking in different ways, but the message will remain the same.

I believe Boing-Boing said it best (but thousands are talking about SOPA and the blackout) – I have borrowed from them and have Gayla-fied the following:

On January 18, sites around the Internet will “go dark” in opposition of SOPA and PIPA. These are the pending US legislation set to create a punishing Internet censorship regime and will essentially export the internet to the rest of the world.

Haven’t we lost enough jobs and businesses to other countries?

U.S. based websites could NEVER co-exist in a SOPA world. Websites would not be able link to another website unless they conducted in depth due diligence to ensure absolutely NO links used by the other site infringed on copyright material.

SOPA in simple terms means shit rolls down hill and quick!

In order to provide a single link to another URL on sites like YouTube, LiveJournal, WordPress, Twitter, Blogspot, or Facebook (just to name a few, but the list is Internet Wide), webmasters would be REQUIRED to CONFIRM no infringing link existed (or would ever exist, because content is permanent), ANYWHERE on that site.

Creating a single link would literally require checking millions upon millions of pages, to verify links weren’t impinging on the ability of five Hollywood studios, four multinational record labels, and six global publishers to maximize their profits.

Simplified: What that means is those adorable videos of little kids singing or dancing to their favorite Beyonce song would become a CRIME punishable by hefty fines and from what I’ve read, up to 5 years in jail. (correct me if I’m wrong)

If webmasters, bloggers, entrepreneurs and internet based businesses fail to take this precaution, finances could be frozen, ad brokers would be forced to pull ads from websites, and depending on which version of the bill goes to the vote, domains belonging to those listed above would be confiscated. For those with domains hosted on non-US servers would have their IP address added to a US-wide blacklist that every ISP in the country would be required to censor.

Piracy is wrong, but what’s even worse is corporations and the government ripping away how people share their love of products, services, and entertainers. The internet is the new “word of mouth”. Imagine how insane this effort would be if the almighty hand of Big Business and the Government tried to silence the voices of people exchanging views, good or bad, over ANYTHING that bears the symbol of copyright.

That’s what this means!

For almost 14 years, I have earned my living on the internet. I have raised my children without the aid of welfare – without the support of their father and I have PAID much higher taxes to the very government that is setting up to attempt direct attack on my entire livelihood.

I refuse to stand by quietly!

Big Corporations “haven’t just declared war on Boing Boing and Reddit and the rest of the “fun” Internet: they’ve declared war on every person who uses the net to publicize police brutality, every oppressed person in the Arab Spring who used the net to organize protests and publicize the blood spilled by their oppressors, every abused kid who used the net to reveal her father as a brutalizer of children, every gay kid who used the net to discover that life is worth living despite the torment she’s experiencing, every grassroots political campaigner who uses the net to make her community a better place — as well as the scientists who collaborate online, the rescue workers who coordinate online, the makers who trade tips online, the people with rare diseases who support each other online, and the independent creators who use the Internet to earn their livings.”

My site readership may be small peanuts by comparison, but my corner of the Internet will go black in support of this effort. I will align with my mentors, my heroes, my sources of entertainment, and all the others that are standing up to shield my life as I know it from this disgusting act of greed.

Here’s How it Works and How You Can Participate:

Step up and do whatever you can to send a powerful message to Congress. The blackout will begin at 8AM EST and end at 8PM EST.

Ways You Can Join the Strike:

  1. Black out your website for 12 hours with this page’s HTML, or by putting this Javascript into your site’s theme. Tucows is doing this and so is BoingBoing.
  2. Other tools to strike. Some other ways to strike:
  3. Don’t be silent that day. Tweet all day from your official company account using (#SOPASTRIKE) Share news on sites like reddit. You will get much love in return from your users, and the bigger the action you do, the more love you will be feeling :)
  4. Follow SOPA Strike on twitter for news as the strike draws near.
  5. If you are shy or wish to refrain from blacking out your entire site, you can show your support by blacking out your site logo and by adding STOP SOPA messages wherever you can.

If you wish to show your support by using a simple graphic on your site, I’ve created a few images you are welcome to use. I’ve placed them on Flickr to provide easy access and sharing. You may access them here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/12419199@N08/sets/72157628912679837/

Finally, show your support and allow me to thank you with the best internet currency I know – by sharing! I will be tweeting, sharing, stumbling, tumbling and bookmarking as many links as I possibly can from January 18 right up to the day SOPA goes for vote. So make my effort easier -

Leave your comment and link below and I’ll be by for a visit.

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Filed under: Industry News

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