Reddit Announces Blackout to Protest SOPA

reply to post by DancedWithWolves


what's Reddit?

EDIT: Oh I googled it. No wonder I've never heard of it. Wall of spam.

thread titles like: "How I felt on my drive to work, realizing I was the only one using turn signals."

Lead me to believe the site is filled with morons.

And this is important to you?

Never have I seen so much agreement on these boards as I see with SOPA, and, quite frankly, it is refreshing! This bill must be stopped ATS'ers. Do all that you can do...write your representatives, sign petitions, inform your family and friends. Speak up on the internet, but speak up also at parties, family get-togethers, and at school & work. Inform those around you what we all know is being attempted here: the complete and utter destruction of FREE EXCHANGE OF INFORMATION!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

reply to post by tangonine


google before you post in the future perhaps? being not dumb isn't so hard, i have faith that even you can do it.

If anyone thinks that any amount of protesting will change the minds of these evil greedy politicians then they are deluded. The entire internet could go down in protest, and they'd have achieved what they want. More # for the people. They get off on this sort of thing.

These corporations and politicians, not just American but the world over, are the real terrorists. Every single one of them needs executing as slowly and painfully as possible. They are screwing us all over in every way so they can tax us and rob us blind while they line their own pockets at our expense.

See, and this is how companies gain popularity, because even though I never used reddit in the past I will now knowing they support freedom.

Here is the reddit blog announcing the blackout

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).

Instead of the normal glorious, user-curated chaos of reddit, we will be displaying a simple message about how the PIPA/SOPA legislation would shut down sites like reddit, link to resources to learn more, and suggest ways to take action. We will showcase the live video stream of the House hearing where Internet entrepreneurs and technical experts (including reddit co-founder Alexis “kn0thing” Ohanian) will be testifying. We will also spotlight community initiatives like meetups to visit Congressional offices, campaigns to contact companies supporting PIPA/SOPA, and other tactics.

Stopped they must be; on this all depends.

and the awesome war logo of reddit against SOPA



It's amazing!

Originally posted by tangonine
reply to post by DancedWithWolves

 

what's Reddit?

Welcome to the internet. Reddit is globally ranked 115 and ranked 55 in US (source: alexa) and it has over 2 billion page views every month with over 28 million unique visitors each month (source: business insider).

Lets get behind the one person who objects to ALL of it, not just the stuff introduced by the OTHER Party.

Patriot Act, NDAA, TSA, SOPA, PIPA, etc.

Star n Flag OP I have not heard about this except on ATS which is a great place for information not available on BBC lol.

IMHO every bit of resistance is worthwhile and with any luck other sites and people will follow suit. I have a better idea suppose nobody showed up for work on that day. America on strike for 24 hours silent protest. I have a dream! That everyone will stand up and be counted for what is right and just which is what our fore fathers wanted via The Constitution. I recommend every member sign as many petitions to reject the Bill that will curtail our freedom of speech etc.

Also joining in to scrub SOPA...

Riot Games gets a little help in their protest from Congressman

Hitting back against the support by the Entertainment Software Association, Riot Games co-founder and CEO Brandon Beck took to the company's own forums to take an official stance against the SOPA and PIPA bills. The "generally apolitical" League of Legends developer has made the decision to speak out as it feels that the bills will kill streaming, threaten independent content creation, damage communities, threaten free speech, and even damage the foundation of the internet.

The thread's drawn an impassioned response from the game's community, with over 1700 replies, though one on the first page stands out — that of Congressman Jared Polis, an avid LoL player and one of the people behind the rival OPEN bill. He says that SOPA "makes it far too easy for angry competitors to sue good law abiding companies out of existence," and calls upon other members of the community to write to their representatives in protest of the bill.

League of Legends Forum thread on SOPA

Story source

The Congressman's post is on the first page of the thread:

Hi, this is Congressman Jared Polis of Colorado. As a member of the League of Legends community (partial to Anivia and Maokai), and as someone who made his living as an Internet entrepreneur before being elected to Congress, I’m greatly concerned about the future of the Internet and gaming if Congress doesn't wake up. You may have heard that Congress is currently considering a bill called the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA. While SOPA has a ton of problems, there are some significant issues that I thought fellow gamers might want to know about.

I’m particularly concerned that SOPA might stifle the kind of innovation that brings us games we love, such as LoL. The bill makes it far too easy for angry competitors to sue good law abiding companies out of existence. It threatens any company or website that depends on user-generated content, even companies like Riot. Instead of coming up with great ways to keep making games like LoL even better, companies will have to spend their money hiring lawyers. That's why companies like Riot, who want to protect the games they create, are opposed to SOPA.

I’ve been working on alternative legislation that would protect the games companies create while also fostering innovation. But we also need you to call your members of Congress and let them know of your opposition to SOPA. This bill has a very real chance of passing, and it is up to all of who want to protect the Internet to take action.

Read his full post at the thread link above.

Anonymous also pulling the shades...

HACKTIVIST GROUP Anonymous will turn off its lights for twelve hours in protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the US.

The hackers are following Reddit's lead, and will join a communications blackout on 18 January that will begin at 8am and end at 8pm.

Source

Originally posted by tangonine
reply to post by DancedWithWolves

 

what's Reddit?

EDIT: Oh I googled it. No wonder I've never heard of it. Wall of spam.

thread titles like: "How I felt on my drive to work, realizing I was the only one using turn signals."

Lead me to believe the site is filled with morons.

And this is important to you?

This is an ignorant statement.

Eg...on facebook or youtube...do you think the cream of the cream of our "intellectual elite" is on facebook or on youtube? HARDLY. But i guarantee you will be heard if you manage to get a message out there. Welcome to the internet!

Originally posted by MarkLuitzen
major organisations like google know the ip range of the us gov and agencies so why not block those for several days so people in congress and the house can't use sites like wikipedia and google sites ect ?
then the people there whom don't now are not willing to know what would happen these acts wil do in real life get a feeling of what will happen if they vote for these acts.

This is an excellent concept. Don't hurt those that would support or use the site but hit government and those affiliated with these proposals. Bravo.

brill

The problem that this country faces in regard to these policies is this: OLD AGE. There, it had to be said so I said it. Most of the old farts on capital hill that have been there since dirt was born (McCain ahem....) probably don't even know how to use a damn email account. I'd love to see a poll on what these people in charge do online.

I sent a letter to McCain, the old bastard and here are a few things I had to say to him.

Dear Senator McCain,

I am writing to you regarding the Protect IP Act (PIPA) which you co-sponsored. As an avid user of the internet, an internet DJ providing free online shows and donating mixes to local cheer leading organizations, a web hosting reseller, blogger, Youtube user, and a computer repair specialist, I have some questions regarding your involvement in this bill sir.

I’ve given you my qualifications, what are yours? How many hours a day do you spend online? How many Youtube video’s have you posted or watched for that matter? How many web sites have you set up? How many live internet performances have you done?

My point here is this; you have NOTHING which qualifies you to have anything to do with the internet sir. Honestly, in my opinion, you are one of the biggest problems with the government of this country. You are much older, completely out of touch with the youth in this country and even more out of touch with what the taxpaying American citizens want.

This bill is nothing more than yet another attempt for our government to gain total control of the American people. You also voted in favor of the NDAA which is a whole different bag of muck sir. I’d like to remind you that the state of Arizona is one that actually has the ability to recall its Senators. Maybe it’s time you start taking what the PEOPLE want in to consideration instead of what you want sir.

I can't WAIT to see what kind of letter I get back from his office! The point here is that we need more youth in leadership or the old need to get with the technology. These guys don't know an IP address from a phone number and to expect them to be making these kinds of decisions well.... We might as well that makes as much sense as giving a five year old a brand new car, the keys and a license!

Originally posted by DancedWithWolves

ETA: And so it continues. Twitter users changing avatars to a black banner.

If you've been on Twitter today, chances are you've seen a change in some of the avatars.

Instead of regular pictures, about 2,500 people have changed their images to a black banner that says STOP SOPA using BlackoutSOPA.org.

Source

edit on 11-1-2012 by DancedWithWolves because: (no reason given)

A grand idea. I've changed my ATS avatar accordingly, since I don't "twitter".

If anyone else want the banner for ATS, the one I worked out can be found here:

files.abovetopsecret.com...

Set your current avatar as the "background", and this image as the avatar, and it ought to work out just fine. This avatar is transparent, all except the "mourning band", so the background image ought to show through it.

I can just imagine the SOPA legislators laughing like hell at Reddit during the blackout...I realize that this is more to educate the users than Congress, but there isn't a lot that a bunch of geeks can do against the Legislation when huge companies are backing SOPA...

here is another, act, bill, law or whatever they are gunna call it that has much further reaching effects than what the govt has stated it wants these powers for. 'they' have been trying for years to somehow get some type of 'regulation', 'censorship' on the web. just keep chippin' away and eventually something will get by the public and then it is too late.

...none are more enslaved than those who falsely think they are free....

Originally posted by nenothtu

A grand idea. I've changed my ATS avatar accordingly, since I don't "twitter".

If anyone else want the banner for ATS, the one I worked out can be found here:

files.abovetopsecret.com...

Set your current avatar as the "background", and this image as the avatar, and it ought to work out just fine. This avatar is transparent, all except the "mourning band", so the background image ought to show through it.

You....ROCK! Thanks for the banner for ATS! Got mine now! Thanks so much.

reply to post by DancedWithWolves


You're welcome - spread the joy!

Until we can find a way to HIT these dumb PR*CKS where it HURTS, they'll keep introducing this sort of crud!

Start blacklisting any business that these senators are connected to, and or any companies showing open support for the likes of SOPA.

Time to put the financial boot to their godforsaken throats!