Posts tagged “sopa”

A Letter to my Representatives

Regarding SOPA/PIPA:

Don’t vote for or against this bill because of your political views. Vote against this bill because, with all due respect, and for lack of a better phrase, it’s none of your business.

Your duty, as a representative to the people, is to give voice to your people, not lobbyists and interest groups. Represent me, your constituent. Represent your other constituents. Vote against the restriction of liberty, because that is the very essence of your elected position.

– @sawaboof: “A Letter to My Representatives“

*slow clap*

slow clap

What if SOPA applied to the physical world?

Imagine if a SOPA-like bill was passed for the physical world rather than the web.

Let’s say someone sends an illegal item (drugs, weapons-grade uranium, kittens) through UPS. You’re not supposed to, but it probably happens all the time.

Someone discovers this tragic misdeed and files a complaint. Or, potentially, someone makes a mistake and thinks you shipped something illegally. They file the complaint anyway.

The government confiscates all the UPS vehicles, seizes the distribution centers and blocks all traffic to the buildings. After all that’s settled, the CEO is sent a letter announcing that someone filed a complaint, their business has been destroyed, and there’s nothing they can do about it.

That’s what SOPA will do to the internet.

Edit: Chris (@cammerman) makes an important point:

It’s true that the scale is monumentally different, but I think the analogy can still hold up, especially when you consider @baekdal’s original question.

GoDaddy withdrawing SOPA support isn’t enough

GoDaddy has now withdrawn their support of SOPA, or rather clarified it:

Company CEO Warren Adelman said that legislation to fight piracy is important, but that “we can clearly do better… Getting it right is worth the wait.”

This of course is after thousands of customers started transferring their business away from GoDaddy, including monsters like the Cheezburger Network. (I haven’t used GoDaddy in several years, so fortunately I have nothing to transfer.)

Withdrawing support is not enough.

It sounds as though many people are content with GoDaddy’s announcement that they no longer support SOPA. But that’s not enough. They – especially they, as a company that depends on the Internet for business – need to actively oppose SOPA, not just casually “not support it”.

I say, boycotting companies until they withdraw support isn’t enough. We need to boycott them until they put their resources to work opposing this bill that would effectively cripple the Internet.

No matter what they say, GoDaddy hasn’t reversed their position until they do so in front of Congress and publicly withdraw their letter of support from the judiciary committee hearings.

– bgentry on HackerNews

There are already companies who have come out publicly against SOPA. A list of companies that currently support SOPA is also available, and it’s sad to see how many there are.

Keep up the boycotts, keep letting companies know that supporting this bill is unacceptable. Consumers have the power, we just don’t fully realize it yet.