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Living in a Dark and Threatening Hollow: Evaluating the SOPA/PIPA Blackout

On Wednesday, January 18, 2012 we blacked out all 14 blogs in the Boles Blogs Network as part of a wide and grand protest against the SOPA/PIPA threat.

We gladly joined that blackout because, on December 29, 2011 — in an article titled Staring Down the SOPA Threat from the Public Square — I wrote this call to action:

If you don’t want SOPA to see the light of day — forget Washington.  Pressure the companies that support SOPA.  Hit them with a cudgel they understand:  Losing your money and ruining their reputation in the marketplace.  Don’t give your money to pro-SOPA companies.  Write about pro-SOPA companies and humiliate them in the public square of human opinion.  It is your moral duty to stand up for free speech and crush the censorship that creeps upon you to silence your hands and ears and eyes.

Continue reading → Living in a Dark and Threatening Hollow: Evaluating the SOPA/PIPA Blackout

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Staring Down the SOPA Threat from the Public Square

SOPA is one of those sudsy scandals that don’t easily wipe off in the public wash.  Once you claim you’re all-in on SOPA, it’s difficult to recant and back out and say you didn’t mean it, and GoDaddy is learning that sticky lesson in heated spades:

GoDaddy was one of the few tech firms to back SOPA but it took its name off the public list of supporters following pressure by big web names and many angry customers.

Wikipedia said it would move its domains away from GoDaddy, as did the Cheezburger Network, owner of Lolcats, and image hosting firm Imgur.

In a statement explaining its change of heart, GoDaddy boss Warren Adelman said: “Fighting online piracy is of the utmost importance, which is why GoDaddy has been working to help craft revisions to this legislation – but we can clearly do better.”

In an interview with tech news site Gizmodo, Mr Adelman took a neutral stance on SOPA but said the company might support it if there were a consensus among net firms on its wording.

Continue reading → Staring Down the SOPA Threat from the Public Square