Will Google, Facebook, others 'nuke' Internet over SOPA?

As SOPA nears the backlash begins...

By Helen A.S. Popkin
technolog.msnbc.msn.com...

If Wikipedia Jimmy Wales' threat to turn off the crowd-sourced encyclopedia to protest the Stop Internet Piracy Act (SOPA) sent you into a cold sweat, you won't welcome this news.

Google, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Zynga — and oh sweet baby Jesus no! — Etsy, along with other Internet-based companies take a "nuclear option" and "go simultaneously dark" in protest of the bill, and to "highlight the fundamental danger the legislation poses to the function of the Internet," ExtremeTech reports:

There’s been no formal decision on the matter, and the companies in question obviously risk consumer anger and backlash over any suspension of services. There is, however, safety in numbers — and a few simple sentences identifying why the blackout is in place will ensure that the majority of the rage flows in the proper direction.

SOPA, which the U.S. House Judiciary Committee is set to review later this month, makes the streaming of unauthorized content a felony. Further, the "vague language would create devastating new tools for silencing legitimate speech all around the Web," warns the Electronic Frontier Foundation. It's a concern shared by free speech and digital rights activists, as well as many major Internet-based companies.

Protests against SOPA went mainstream in December when members of the Reddit community organized a protest against Web-hosting giant Go Daddy for its initial SOPA support. More than 37,000 domains were transferred as part of the "Dump Go Daddy" protest, leading the company to make a solid statement opposing SOPA.

In anticipation of the hearing, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales conducted a straw poll recently to gauge Wikipedian interest in a community strike — a blackout of either the U.S. Wikipedia pages, or even the entire site. At that time, 87 percent of respondents were in favor of a strike.

Now, as part of the NetCoalition trade association, these companies are joining Wikipedia's Wikimedia Foundation in a possible Internet blackout:

AOL
eBay
Etsy
Facebook
Foursquare
Google
IAC
LinkedIn
Mozilla
OpenDNS
PayPal
Twitter
Yahoo!
Zynga

As ExtremeTech reports, there are no concrete plans for implementing the "nuclear option," but the most likely date for such a blackout is Jan. 23, the day before the Senate is scheduled to debate SOPA.

Now imagine Jan 23 when you cant find "fuzzy kittens" cause Google of all companies has gone black in protest of SOPA - however will you survive? Sure there will always be options but this thing is receiving so much blow back that even heavy hitters like Google and Ebay are discussing making their mark to show their disgust.

Well at least I didn't see EVE on the list. Oh the horror!

Mega companies protesting the Government for once? Can it be?

Originally posted by boncho
Mega companies protesting the Government for once? Can it be?

Could be the beginning of something beautiful

reply to post by lBLaCkOuTl


Or maybe they are doing it because they see the bill hurting their bank balance?

But hey that's bound to be a thought in their heads.

Just had a thought if this thing goes thru and knacks the internet maybe we will spend more time talking to real people and doing more constructive things with our lives instead of looking at cute kittys....every cloud has a silver lining

Edit No looking at cute kittys is the best

So long as Flickr isn't on that list too, I'm good to go. Good thing for once my Etsy store isn't overly successful to where it'd even make a difference!

Well, I hope they really have the **lls to go through with it. Even if it is one day, that is a lot of business they could loose. I support them though!

While i welcome this especially coming from Google, Facebook and many big companies, i don't buy it.

You have NO idea how much $$$ google is making, and just "blacking out" their service for a "few" hours would equal a loss of MILLIONS for them. I don't buy that Google would do this, they would not voluntarily lose millions of profit.

Sorry but AOL is no friend of internet freedom and privacy. I'm a bit suspicious to see them on this list. If anything it would have to be a desperate attempt at making headlines, hoping this could increase traffic.


Hope these outfits go through with their pledges.

reply to post by flexy123


I'm naturally inclined to agree with you, however consider the beating Go-Daddy took over their support of this thing. I can imagine a days loss of profit for the amount of support they would garner the following day and for many days to come. At any rate they certainly cannot support it, that much is clear.

I found one persons account of learning to live without Google Source

I believe it's good to prepare for the worst and hope for the best and this is just a good reminder to cover your butt. Just like when you loose electricity or your mobile phone...etc.

reply to post by relocator


The survivalist guide to the internet - I like it. What a world we find ourselves in. That was a very good point though. Where do you go when and "God willing" if SOPA passes. The right of the people to use the internet free of obstruction shall not be infringed.

Google give a lot of lipservice, but no, they won't risk losing a cent of revenue.

reply to post by WWJFKD


This would suck for us, but would prove the point. The danger in SOPA is deep and goes far beyond "pirate" sites. It would, quite literally, change the internet making most of the sites we know and love potentially illegal. sites like ATS would basically have to shut down as they would be liable for anything anyone does on this site. sites like reddit would be in that grey area as well.

Now, some of the companies signed on for this could actually make a difference. People think of google as a search engine. Lol. It's so far beyond that it's insane, how many corporations are using google apps and such? Gmail? All of that would go down.

Millions already use OpenDNS. It's not really that important for us in the west, but in other places that is their only method of evading government censorship.

Ebay is a huge business and many small "internet" companies actually rely on ebay for their transactions.

What would be the next logical step is to get some of the larger domain hosting sites, and even some ISPs, involved in this potential blackout.

A few sites and services is one thing, but taking the entire network down in certain regions is quite possible, and would cause so much blowback towards those idiots in government trying to push this crap through, they'd be forced to listen.

Google, facebook, Ebay, the list goes on, but no, none of them can "nuke" the internet, but in areas services by google internet providers, yup, black out. If the list remains with these companies it will surely rock the boat, but unless they get some companies involved that can actually take the network down, it won't be a "nuclear" event.

reply to post by flexy123

I don't buy that Google would do this, they would not voluntarily lose millions of profit.

That's shortsighted.

They'd lose some money, yes. But if SOPA passes, not only are they liable for anything anyone does on their services, some of their services would be potentially illegal, and to bring all of their operations in line with what SOPA demands would possibly, and probably, cost more than whatever loses they'd incur.

As well, this is great PR for any company as the "protectors of the internet" like to throw their support behind companies that are in line with their views.

sure, google collects billions of gigs of data and has tentacles all over the IT industry. They also see the big picture clearly.

SOPA will not work, it's as simple as that. And the people pushing it know this, it's a means to an ends.

They've convinced government that the internet and it's technology is destroying industries and they must protect their Intellectual Property. The government believes them, both out of corruption and out of ignorance.

SOPA will fail, just like all other attempts. And they want this.

Because the next logical step is IP protection at the hardware level. This is already coming. The next generation of motherboards, or most of them, will have encrypted licenses for the OS you are allowed to run. Meaning, your government could decide you can ONLY run windows 8, so that's the only OS your motherboard will let run.

And it will go far beyond that. General use computers are the threat, and the next target. Apple is at the forefront of this, building restrictive devices that, 5 - 10 years ago would be capable of much more than they are now.

They want the end of the "computer" and the birth of the computer as appliance. This is where SOPA will inevitably lead if it isn't stopped now.

i'm all about this! it's nice to see large corps tell the US gov't to EFF off! if ebay shut down...it would cripple the economy! all the folks who depend upon ebay for income...be broke in under a month. same with google...and everyone else who uses any of these companies/services to make money!

i know several people who depend upon their ebay sales to live. they sell to customers all over the world cuz there isn't enough local business...

looks like the gov't got a bit too greedy and now the corps are starting to get pissed!

reply to post by WWJFKD


When and if sopa passes, it will only serve to wake the masses.
People will then become angry, let's just hope the right people get hung.
My thought, they will get their just deserts.

Another major company that is against SOPA that is not mentioned is Amazon. I do believe they'll go through with this. For example, both Amazon and Google sell books. They have a picture of the book so that people can see the cover, maybe a sample chapter, what it looks like etc... Well, some publishers are stating that that violates copyright law. Huh. Soo all you can see is the name of the book. How enticing. Really makes me want to buy the product.

Source for above:
My physics professor

A list of all the companies that support SOPA:
Gizmodo

reply to post by flexy123


you also have to realize how much money google will be losing if this does go through. People will start using canadian and uk based search engines because the bill allows the government to fine any american search engine with a site from the "restricted list".

reply to post by openeyeswideshut


Not to mention all the other companies along with the destruction of the internet as we know it. It would probably eventually get to the point where there may be no point in using it unless you are going to be hacking it or something or somehow have a special site designed around whatever measures end up being put in. I would guess there would be at least a few people that would attempt something like that.

Every conspiracy site would probably be gone within a few years, unless really really strict moderation comes through.

Hmm. Another thought. Google and YouTube are connected ya know, so I am curious if YouTube is against this. I would guess that they are because they'd be responsible for any videos even temporarily put up on their site.

EDIT: Yeah, this article is probably right. It would probs shut down.
end of youtube

Also, reddit is coming up with even more ideas...this one from today around 9 hours ago as of now, on how to use YouTube to help deflect the SOPA legislation:
reddit

reply to post by WWJFKD


Thank you for posting this (bumpity bump, S&F)

I came across this article today and wanted to share, but I'll add it to your thread instead.
SOPA: Google, Facebook, and Twitter May Go Offline In Protest

Can you imagine a world without Google or Facebook? If plans to protest the potential passing of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) come to fruition, you won’t need to; those sites, along with many other well-known online destinations, will go temporarily offline as a taste of what we could expect from a post-SOPA Internet.

Companies including Google, Facebook, Twitter, PayPal, Yahoo! and Wikipedia are said to be discussing a coordinated blackout of services to demonstrate the potential effect SOPA would have on the Internet, something already being called a “nuclear option” of protesting. The rumors surrounding the potential blackout were only strengthened by Markham Erickson, executive director of trade association NetCoalition, who told FoxNews that “a number of companies have had discussions about [blacking out services]” last week.

I hope they do. They have my support.

IMHO I don't see this Bill getting passed and if it does.... well..... I look forward to the backlash. Might just be the proverbial straw.