GTB will "blackout" tomorrow as well

Sure, this isn't the biggest site in the world, but I'll be joining in tomorrow's protest of SOPA and PIPA. The site will be "blacked out" quite literally. Black background with black text. The blackout will begin tonight, and go into tomorrow.

I encourage everyone to boycott these two oppressive bills tomorrow, in any way that you can. If you can't find a public way of protesting, perhaps giving all the greedy SOPA supporters an annoying robo call tomorrow. Let our senators know that campaign contributions from greedy corporations won't allow them to get elected after destroying fundamental American rights. 

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Wikipedia Will Go Offline in Protest of SOPA

Tomorrow, Wikipedia will go completely offline in protest of SOPA and PIPA, as will Reddit. These two similar acts try to prevent piracy, by making it a serious offense on the level of assault or breaking and entering, as well as censor the internet. Instead of the online encyclopedia you know and love, tomorrow you'll see a page that looks like the image above
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Google will be joining in the protest as well, although unfortunately, without the same level of dedication. Google will post a banner advertising the affects of SOPA and PIPA. Seeing as there hasn't been a huge outcry over these bills, perhaps a little education into the matter would be very beneficial for Americans, as well as detrimental to the senators' agendas (and wallets).
via Gizmodo

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Call All the SOPA Supporters

Want to show your distain for SOPA, but don't want to send out hundreds of emails and phone calls? Simple, use a robocalling service just like the ones companies and politicians use to flood your voicemail inbox! For $25, your recorded message will be phoned into every supporter of SOPA, politicians and companies alike.

To send the calls out, head over to Reverse Robocall. A mass boycott made GoDaddy change their stance on the piracy bills (too little, too late). Perhaps mass phone calls will do the same.
via Gizmodo

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Ditch GoDaddy Tomorrow!

December 29th is the day to ditch GoDaddy. Why would you leave GoDaddy behind? There are a number of reasons. The biggest of which has been their support of SOPA, but others have sited poor service, high prices, sexist advertising, or annoying phone calls/emails.

GoDaddy has since removed their official support of SOPA. However, they neither support nor stand against SOPA. Seeing as the bill is already going through, if they don't stand against SOPA, they may as well support it.

If you need help leaving GoDaddy, you can check out Lifehacker's guide here. There are plenty f better, less expensive alternatives out there. Most have not supported SOPA in any way. In fact, if you move your domain or hosting to one of these services with an Anti-Sopa coupon code, you'll get a huge discount.

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These are the Vile Companies Supporting SOPA

Gizmodo has released a list of all the companies who support the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). SOPA would enable the government to censor the internet, much in the same way China and Iran do. The list, along with contact information for each company is below.

Also, if you'd like to fight SOPA, you can sign the official White House petition here. You can also email any of the companies below. GoDaddy recently withdrew support of the bill due to outrage from US citizens, although it may already be too late, as many are participating in "Leave GoDaddy Day" on December 29th. Send emails and complaints to the other companies, and maybe they'll withdraw their support as well.

Read the rest of this post »

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Google Co-Founder: US Piracy Laws on Par with China

Google's co-founder Sergey Brin recently stood up against the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP act, which would allow websites to be taken down without legal discourse. He said the act would put the United States right up there with China and Iran in terms of censorship. The government will be able to take down sites, hijack DNS domains, and even file lawsuits without ever going before a court.

The problem is that this isn't just about piracy. Companies could easily fight piracy through the free market, but they'd rather control pricing and distribution, as well as how their customers use their purchased content.



But, these bills aren't just about piracy. Recently, Universal Music proved just why this act will enable internet censorship. Universal Music had a video taken off of YouTube because the video featured various celebrities speaking in favor of MegaUpload. Rather than allow celebrities speak in favor of a tool use for file transfers (and occasional piracy), they had the video taken down for "copyright violations".

Did the video violate any of Universal Music's intellectual property? No, but it had a message they didn't like, so they had it taken down. But they didn't stop there. They also had a news story covering the takedown removed from the site.

In China, censorship protects a corrupt government. In the United States, it protects the businesses that fund our politicians. No wonder so many of our politicians are in favor of SOPA and Protect IP.

But you can warn them. Tell them you won't stand for it. You can head over to AmericanCensorship.org and tell your politician you won't support censorship in America. They're spreading word about these bills, and have already gotten recognition from over half a million people. They've also been supported by Mozilla, the EFF, Creative Commons, Wikimedia, and many more.

AmericanCensorship.org also makes it incredibly easy to tell your politician that you're not happy. You can send an email, or you can even call your representative through them. They'll give you talking points, as well as facts about the bill, so you can give your representative an argument against censorship based in fact (rather than rambling).

With enough support, politicians won't have to worry about getting campaign funds from their "anonymous donors", they'll have to worry about your vote, which is the way it should be.
via NPR, Gizmodo, Ars Technica, and AmericanCensorship.org

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