Protect IP Act / Stop Online Piracy Act (PIPA / SOPA)

Protect IP Act / Stop Online Piracy Act (PIPA / SOPA)

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Updated Aug 03, 2020 at 09:43AM EDT by Y F.

Added Nov 15, 2011 at 08:52PM EST by Luxas.

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Overview

The Protect IP Act (PIPA) is a U.S. Senate bill introduced by Senator Patrick Leahy. Along with its House counterpart Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), the bills are designed to provide the government and copyright holders with powers to block access to "rogue websites dedicated to infringing or counterfeit goods," especially those registered outside the United States. Since its introduction on May 11th, 2011, the proposed bill has been met by opposition from various digital rights activists and bloggers for its encroachment in online activities protected under the first amendment of free speech.

Background

If passed by Congress, Protect IP Act would allow the government to curb public access to websites that have "no significant use" other than infringing copyright, enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. It would also make unauthorized media streaming an act of felony and hold the web publishers and hosting services responsible for curbing their users from posting copyright-infringed content.


SOPA: THE INTERNET BLACKLIST BILL A WEBSITE OPERATOR COULD FACE A new bill will allow the US Government to block Americans from visiting websites US WER TRAFFIC SEARCH TPAFFIC AD-REVENUE As a result WHAT SITES ARE AT GREATEST RISK Sites selt-censorship increases dramatically, Fewer startups launch, due to riskier legal climate. HOW DOES THE BLOCKING WORK? DNS BLOCKING RAN, AND SYRIA DNS BLOCKING HOW DOES THIS AFFECT: The US sets precedents for Internet law around the globe which means censorship could become the new standard. ANY AMERICAN USER ANTI-CENSORSHIP INITIATIVES WHEN DOES A SITE GET BLOCKED? will be caretuly mantoed and pessubily rer One of my users posted that. Help!" COULD THIS POSSIBLY BECOME THE LAw? This page has infringing links. This is a rogue website. You didn't do enough to stop it Yes. The following two bills have a lot of support in congress, thanks to numerous lobbies. Ptma SENATE: PROTECT IP ACT A few infringing links are enough to block a site full of legal material, and sites become liable for user-posted content 21 黒&黒黒黒黒黒黒黒黒黒黒黒黒黒黒黒

In addition, Stop Online Piracy Act would effectively rid of the safe harbor provisions in the Digital Millenium Copyright Act, which grants Web sites immunity from prosecution as long as they act in good faith to take down infringing content upon notice. Under strict interpretation, a wide range of online communities and social networks including YouTube, Twitter and Facebook would have to censor users or get shut down and ordinary users could be imprisoned for five years or posting any copyrighted work.

Developments

Online Reaction

The legislation has been opposed by the Electronic Frontier Foundation (EFF), Yahoo!, eBay, American Express, Google, Reporters Without Borders, and Human Rights Watch. EFF's blog post titled "What's On the Blacklist?" listed media-sharing services Vimeo and Flickr and e-commerce community Etsy as websites that could be put at risk under the Stop Online Piracy Act. Fight for the Future published a 3-minute infographic video explaining the basics of the bills and their impact on everyday activities of online interactions.



A number of online entrepreneurs like Reid Hoffman of Linkedin, Twitter co-founder Evan Williams and Foursquare co-founder Dennis Crowley signed a letter to Congress expressing their opposition to the legislation.



December 15th: Markup Hearing of SOPA

On December 15th, The House of Representatives Judiciary Committee held a meeting for markup of the Stop Online Piracy Act, which was met by much divided opinions on the bill. According to Politico[14], the markup debate didn't break down by partisanship, but a number of Democrat and Republican Representatives including Zoe Lofgren (D-California) and Dan Lungren (R-California) argued that the bill was being processed in a rush in the absence of input from technical experts regarding the legal impact of SOPA on the structure of the Internet.

On the other side of the line, Bob Goodlatte (R-Virginia), John Conyers (D-Michigan) and Howard Berman (D-California) argued for an immediate measure to protect copyright holders from sites that profit from offering illicit and illegally copied content.

“All we’re trying to do here is stop online piracy. Since when did opposition get so fierce against this? What could be behind the motives of people or organizations that don’t think stopping online piracy is something that we need to deal with?” Conyers said.

Meanwhile, the all-day marathon hearing of the bill abruptly came to a temporary halt when Representative Shiela Jackson Lee (D-Texas) raised issue with a tweet that was posted by congressman Steve King (R-Iowa). According to CNET[17], Representative King wrote via his Twitter account:


Upon discovering the mention of her name in King's tweet shortly after, Jackson Lee responded to the tweet on congressional record that it is inappropriate "to have a member of the Judiciary committee be so offensive." When the House Judiciary Committee's senior member Rep. James Sensenbrenner (R-Wisconsin) suggested that the clerk expunge the word "offensive" from the official transcript, Jackson Lee repeatedly refused to agree before finally permitting the replacement of the word "offensive" with "impolitic and unkind."

Alternative Proposal: OPEN Act

An alternative version of the bill known as the Online Protection & Enforcement of Digital Trade Act (OPEN Act)[17] was proposed by a bipartisan group of congressman during the hearing, which would utilize the International Trade Commission (ITC) as the authoritative venue for enforcement of copyrights and trademarks against foreign-based rogue websites that are outside of U.S. jurisdiction. Sponsored by Rep. Darrell Issa (R-California) and Sen. Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), the alternative bill as explained on KeepTheWebOpen.com[15] states:

“The OPEN Act is built to protect creative ownership in America while securing the open, accessible Internet you deserve. We’re going further by actually opening up the legislative process with a new tool named Madison.”


#SOPA US House of Representatives YES NO NO NO NO NO YES NO NO #OPEN Act PROTECT IP US House of Representatives &US Senate US Senate YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES YES NO NO NO NO NO YES NO NO Protects the Rights of Artists Protects Against New Internet Police Powers Secures Safe Harbors for Legitimate Internet Businesses Protects Access to Social Media & Legitimate Websites Ensures Intellectual Property (IF) Cases Resolved By IP Experts Targets Actual Criminals Foreign Rogue Websites Applies Due Process - Not Banks - To Judge Infringement Claims Supports Innovation & One of the Fastest Growing Industies in America Consistent with American Calls for Open Internet in Closed Societies

January 14th: White House Opposes DNS Block

In an official blog post[40] on January 14th, White House cyber-security czar Howard Schmidt and two other officials responded to the official anti-SOPA petitions, which has received over 100,000 signatures combined, by stating that the administration will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression and increases cybersecurity risks, particularly measures that will involve manipulation of the Domain Name System (DNS) to block services.

Any effort to combat online piracy must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity and must not inhibit innovation by our dynamic businesses large and small.

The statement by White House officials quickly spread through the newsvine and blogosphere. Following the official statement, Newscorp CEO Rupert Murdoch[42] took his reactions to Twitter where he expressed his criticisms of Google and the current administration:


Rupert Murdoch Follow So Obama has thrown in his lot withSilicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery 14 Jan 12 Reply Retweet ★ Favorite Rupert Murdoch Follow Piracy leader is Google who streams movies free, sells advts around them. No wonder pouring millions into lobbying 14 Jan 12 Reply Retweet ★ Favorite

Murdoch, who is an outspoken supporter of anti-piracy bills, asserted that White House's response was made to appeal Google, the company that he accuses of indexing sites offering illegal downloads of copyrighted material.

January 15th: SOPA Hearing Postponed

After sponsors of the bill agreed to remove a controversial provision requiring service providers to block access to users by manipulating the Domain Name Service (DNS), it was reported by several news agencies including New York Time that another hearing of SOPA will be shelved indefinitely until a clearer consensus could be reached. According to the statement released by House Oversight Chairman Representative Darrell Issa:

"While I remain concerned about Senate action on the Protect IP Act, I am confident that flawed legislation will not be taken up by this House. …Majority leader Cantor has assured me that we will continue to work to address outstanding concerns and work to build a consensus prior to any anti-piracy legislation coming before the House for a vote."

October 19th: Free Bieber Campaign

On October 19th, 2011, "Free Bieber" campaign was launched by Fight for the Future. According to the satire website FreeBieber.org, Justin Bieber could be technically sent to prison for the videos he had uploaded to YouTube prior to stardom.

A new bill in Congress makes posting a video containing any copyrighted work a felony-- with up to 5 years in prison. But wait… didn't Justin Bieber get famous by posting YouTube videos of himself singing copyrighted R&B songs? Yep. If this bill passes, he could get 5 years in jail.

The campaign was subsequently covered on BoingBoing[26], Torrent Freak[27], and TechDirt[28] the same day.


FREE BIEBER Justin faces 5 brutal years in prison. Could This Really Happen? A new bill in Congress makes posting a video containing any copyrighted work a felony- with up to 5 years in prison. But wait... didn't Justin Bieber get famous by posting Youl ube videos of himself singing copyrighted R&B songs? Yep f this bill passes, he could get 5 years in jail. 1 2 3 456 Z 8 Next Photo

November 16th: American Censorship Day

In a joint effort to raise the awareness of the congressional hearings scheduled to begin on November 16th, a day of online protest dubbed "American Censorship Day" was launched on the same day at 12:00 a.m. (ET). Organized by EFF and a network of supporter groups including Free Software Foundation, Fight For the Future and Creative Commons, the campaign asked its participants to place a censorship badge over the site's logo in display of solidarity against the legislation of the bill. On Twitter, participants of the protest tweeted links to their websites with the hashtags #sitecensored, #dontbreaktheinternet and #blacklist.





Some of the notable partipants in the American Censorship Day include a wide range of online communities like Wikimedia, Reddit, Tumblr, Mozilla, BoingBoing and Creative Commons among others. On Reddit, an official announcement titled "Stop the ridiculous PROTECT IP Act right now. Sign this petition for the love of the internet" was posted on the frontpage. Tumblr also took part in the protest by censoring dashboard content in black and providing a link with contact information of U.S. Representatives.


4CHAN STOP INTERNET CENSORSHIP TWO BILLS IN CONGRESS UNDERMINE THE PRINCIPLES OF levision& Food & Cooking ch Cosplay& EG Traditional Games Faon Latest Posts Popular Threads Fashion:Yt22 22 307 866 REDDIT ust entered te Dragonborn contest naled r? Dsearch reddit What happens when you give a Mario piano score to someone who's never heard it in his lite? Awesomeness Submit alink 个 Stop it with these posts.~ The top bwo reasons I don't have nice things I found out my dog has many tumers that are unreatable. The doctor says she wont make it to the holidays when all my tamily is home Iknow she isn't the cunest anrymore but I love her go damn it 个 ^ -what happens when you look into mormonism-ingatn Click, Drag, Be amazed 个Congress's approval taing below that oCommrsmin u s.-mmo . Ask Mytbusters CoHost Grant imatara Anything Mdeo intervew College Freshman meets College Senior 个 9months ago today. Reddit was down. Whops had a (hid7-asli- 个 TIL pathe oldest sure ing par of cloth socks were found in Egypt were actally designed to wear with sandals"-nim"se TUMBLR CENSORS DASHBOARDS Stop The Law That Will Censor The Internet! Dashboard Meghan Peters Mashable HQ : *山 Open Mashable Ho TextPhoto Quote Lnk Chat Audio Video Settings king-of-pancakes liked your post: Now On Mashable: Original Videos & Posts alexjamesfitz: 1 note delete edit Followers 6,289 血Members Messages Drafts O Queue Launch Mass Post Editor Search my posts We're ected about this new medum、and we bethe wdoos posted so far. Tosee ar videos and get updsted right as they're posted, vieit and follow mashable video ided
BOINGBOING VIDEOCL@vD viARTINOVE USMONTH Gre.FRErnas Start a FREE trial VIDEOCLOUDSTARTING AT $99/MONTH STOP CENSORSHPFEATURES REVIEWS VIDEO SCIENCE GWEEK B-SIDE ARCHIVE SUBMIT MORE SEARCH NYFO raidOccupy Wall Street,evictWhat the Vaio Z says about Sony's OWS tatelpwo monthsittle design problem The Future of Sience Daid Rescovit Xeni ard Rob Beschizza NYPD hates books: police and Brookfield properties workers destroy #ows library. Again. Make your phone your wallet Google wallet citi GWEEK edgecast boingboinS Advertise at Boing Boing MY LIFE ScoO NYFD&Brookfield have taken the People's Libeary again and we love you all," tweet the ccupy Wall Street barians o Zuccoti Park They aho took all the enwegy ban, waters, and nacks at the sbeary. This is not the fid time. Then, shotly aftet: "A few of our awesome Test driving the MOZILLA START PAGE mozilla Firefox Protect the Internet Help us stop the Internet Blacklist Legislation On November 16th, Congress holds hearings on the first American Intemet censorship system. This bill can pass. If it does, the Internet and free speech will never be the same. Join us to stop this bil. Why? A few intringing inks are enough to justity censoring an entre she,blocking good content along with the bad. Howt The US wil be abie to blocka site's web traffic, ad traffic and search traffic using the same webaite censorship methods used by China, Iran and Syria. Who's at risk? Your favorte webotes both nside and outside the US could Act and the PROTECT IP Act be blocked based on an Intringement claim. Could this pass? Yes. The Stop Online Piracy have widespread suppont in Congress and are expected to Take Action Now! Stand with Mozilla Spread the word on your website REP. ZOE LOFGREN (D-CA) CONGRESSWOMAN ZOE LOFGREN CONTACT ZOE REPRESENTING THE I6TH DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA STOP CENSORSHIP ABOUT ZO LEGISLATION HOW CAN ZOE HELP 16TH DISTRICT ST OF NOTE Home Affordable Refinance Health Insurance Reform Information Zoe Welcomes Back 22 SJFD Firefighters Responsible and Truthful Budgeting Follow Zoe on Facebook facebook ZOE'S ENEWSLETTER TO RECEME 20ES MORE NEWS ARTICLES Lofgren Opening Statement on SOPA November 16, 2011 whington, Dic-Today the Houne Judiciary Committee held a hearing on the Stop Online Piracy Act VISIT WASHINGTON D.C. FOR VISITIN NATION'S CAPITAL RESOURCE OUR Reasmo Rep. Lofgren Applauds $800,000 Grant for Local YouthBuild November 7, 2011 THOMAS BILL SEARCH ncome talies T The progam as to those in the progm

On the next day, Fight For the Future published an infographic chart illustrating the turnout of American Censorship Day, which reported over 6,000 participating websites, over 1 million e-mails and over 3,000 handwritten letters sent to Congress about the bills. According to a tweet posted from Tumblr's Twitter account, an average of 3.6 calls per second was observed during its peak.


@NancyPelosi Nancy Pelosi Need to find a better solution than #SOPA #DontBreakTheInternet MT @jeffreyrodmar. Where do you stand on Internet censoring and #SOPA? CC @Darrellssa 小 Darrell Issa If even we agree... RT @NancyPelosi: Need to find a better solution than #SOPA #DontBreakThe|nternet Cc @jeffreyrodman

California Representative Zoe Lofgren (D) also participated in the American Censorship Day by displaying the badge on her homepage. Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi also revealed her stance against the bill via Twitter, in responding to a tweeter who asked: "Where do you stand on internet censoring and #SOPA?" Pelosi's tweet was also mentioned by California Republican congressman Darrel Issa, who suggested in an interview with The Hill newspaper there's little hope for the legislation of Stop Online Piracy Act.

December 10th: Wikipedia's Strike Proposal

On December 10th, 2011, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales asked the readers' opinions on a potential blackout of the website in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act. In an impromptu straw poll launched on his user talk page[13], Wales announced that while there are no immidiate plans to blank out Wikipedia, he noted the Italian Wikipedia blank out in early October 2011 as a precedent, in which the parliament backed down on the privacy law after Italian Wikipedia took all of its pages offline.


Request for Comment: SOPA and a strike [edit] An editor has requested comment from other editors for this discussion. This page has been added to the Unsorted list. When discussion has ended, remove this tag and it will be removed from the list. If this page is on additional lists, they will be noted below Please consider joining the Feedback Request Service. (Please help me publicize this widely.) A few months ago, the Italian Wikipedia community made a decision to blank all of Italian Wikipedia for a short period in order to protest a law which would infringe on their editorial independence. The Italian Parliament backed down immediately. As Wikipedians may or may not be aware, a much worse law going under the misleading title of "Stop Online Piracy Act' is working its way through Congress on a bit of a fast track. I may be attending a meeting at the White House on Monday (pending confirmation on a couple of fronts) along with executives from many other top Internet firms, and I thought this would be a good time to take a quick reading of the community feeling on this issue. My own view is that a community strike was very powerful and successful in Italy and could be even more powerful in this case. There are obviously many questions about whether the strike should be geotargetted (US-only), etc. (One possible view is that because the law would seriously impact the functioning of Wikipedia for everyone, a global strike of at least the English Wikipedia would put the maximum pressure on the US government.) At the same time, it's of course a very very big deal to do something like this, it is unprecedented for English Wikipedia. - Preceding unsigned comment added by Jimbo Wales (talk contribs) 07:42, 10 December 2011 (note: I added the request for comment tag and signature for the bot Crazynas 09:22, 10 December 2011 (UTC)) So, this is a straw poll. Please lvote either support' or 'oppose' with a reason, and try to keep wide-ranging discussion to the section below the poll To be clear, this is NOT a vote on whether or not to have a strike. This is merely a straw poll to indicate overall interest. If this poll is firmly opposed' then I'll know that now. But even if this poll is firmly in 'support' we'd obviously go through a much longer process to get some kind of consensus around parameters, triggers, and timing Before answering at Poll, perhaps read below, #Discussion.-Wikid77 05:39, 12 December 2011 (UTC)


December 11th: I Work For the Internet

On December 11th, 2011, a single topic blog titled "I Work for the Internet"[10] was launched to compile a long list of user-submitted webcam portraits in display of solidarity against the legislation of SOPA. Launched by one of the central anti-SOPA protest organizers Fight for the Future, the photo project has drawn participation from a number of notable people in online media, including TechCrunch editor Erick Schonfeld, Tumblr co-founder David Karp and designer Peter Vidani, early Facebook developer Dave Morin, Vimeo's co-founder Zach Klein and Texts from Last Night Co-founder Lauren Leto among others.


IWORK FOR THE INTERNET Add Yourself We work for the Internet. We know first-hand that the Internet powers the American dream. American innovators have built the world's most popular sites, selling products and services to every corner of the globe, creating high-paying jobs from Maine to Hawaii. If Congress passes the Stop Online Piracy Act, America's most promising engine of future jobs and opportunity will be put at risk. Don't stop us now - we're just getting started! Tell the world you work for the Internet Tony H. A Writer Anthony I. Sar ProgrammerCA Stephen K Los Angeles, CA Anastsia H. At Robin B. David S. Ames, lA Joel Y , MA Erin S. Manager Brooklyn, NY Boone G. Sabrina M. Stefan H. Liz R. Writer PA Heather P Los Angeles, CA Luke L RU 64 Chris H. Monica L. New York, NY Art Director Jake S. Brad P Ma'ayan P Oberlin, OH Jordan W. Austin, TX Matt P

The news of the site was covered by The Atlantic[11] in an article titled "A Web Celebrity-Spotting Guide to the Latest Anti-SOPA Site." Gawker[12] also covered the news with a hint of criticism towards its vanity-driven nature.

December 22nd: GoDaddy Boycott Campaign

On October 31st, 2011, TechDirt[18] and the Domains[19] both published articles stating that Christine Jones, the general counsel and corporate secretary from GoDaddy.com submitted a piece to Politico stating the company's support of SOPA, then called the E-Parasite Bill. TechDirt countered the statement by posting screen shots of how GoDaddy itself encourages people to violate SOPA by suggesting domain names that would infringe on other established sites' copyright and name trademarks. The day before the bill was set to be heard in the House ON November 15th, GoDaddy filed an official statement[20] breaking down exactly why they were supporting SOPA, claiming that "there is no question that we need these added tools to counteract illegal foreign sites that are falling outside the jurisdiction of U.S. law enforcement."


TRANSFER ALLTHE DOMAINS

This information was relatively unknown until December 22nd when Redditor selfprodigy[21] posted about GoDaddy's statement to the Politics subreddit, suggesting GoDaddy users move their domains on December 29th to protest the company's support of the bill. In response, CEO of Zferral Jeff Epstein provided a step-by-step guide on how to transfer domains from GoDaddy to another host[28] and Fight For the Future launched a special pledge page for the would-be boycotters.[30]


l pledge to boycott GoDaddy until they fully drop their support of both the internet censorship bills, PIPA and SOPA. Your Email Your Name Zip Submit Additionally, I Pledge To Transfer This Many Domains: 0

A number of major Internet companies vowed to drop their GoDaddy accounts including Wikipedia and the image hosting service Imgur. Additionally, Cheezburger's CEO Ben Huh stated[27] that he would move the company's 1000+ domain names off of GoDaddy if they did not change their stance on the bill. The news quickly spread to The Escapist[23], Ars Technica[24], Gizmodo[25] and the International Business Times[26].


Follow @benhuh We will move our 1,0oo domains off @godaddy unless you drop support of SOPA. We love you guys, but #SOPA-is-cancer to the Free Web.

Following the news coverage of boycott campaign on December 23rd, GoDaddy[29] released a statement by CEO Warren Adelman announcing that they will no longer be supporting the act and pulled down a post outlining the reasons they had previously supported it:

“Fighting online piracy is of the utmost importance, which is why Go Daddy has been working to help craft revisions to this legislation – but we can clearly do better… It’s very important that all Internet stakeholders work together on this. Getting it right is worth the wait. Go Daddy will support it when and if the Internet community supports it."

Despite GoDaddy's decision to withdraw its support for SOPA, Internet users reportedly waged the boycott campaign with an estimated figure of over 37,000 domains dropped within the first 48 hours and over 70,000 domains by December 29th, including the internet culture blog BuzzFeed.[31] Many news publications and blogs reported on the phenomenon as the Internet users' punishing GoDaddy for their "flip-flop" stance on the bill.


@BuzzFeed BuzzFeed In response to their stance on #Sopa, BuzzFeed is dropping @GoDaddy. They will get no more of our money. #ByeDaddy 1 hour ago via Socia!Flow ☆ Favorite t Retweet Reply

December 29th: Nuclear Option Rumors

On December 29th, CNET[31] published an article about a possible "nuclear option" that would have other popular online websites like eBay, Google, Facebook and Twitter join Wikipedia in a simultaneous blackout urging users to contact their congressional representatives to stop SOPA and Protect IP. NetCoalition leader Markham Erickson was questioned about the blackout rumors and revealed that "there have been some serious discussions about that." The following day, articles appeared on Fox News, the International Business Times[33] and the tech blog Geekosystem[32] examining how successful the proposed tactic would be.

The New York Tech Meetup, an organization of nearly 20,000 people who work in the technology industry throughout New York City, is planning a protest on January 17th outside the Manhattan offices of New York Senators Charles E. Schumer and Kirsten E. Gillibrand, who co-sponsored some of the proposed legislation.

January 4th: Chaos Communication Congress

On January 4th, a team of hacktivists gathered at the Chaos Communication Congress in Berlin, Germany and announced a plan to launch satellites into orbit to put the Internet beyond the reach of censors. The story was covered by the BBC[35] and questioned hacker activist Nick Farr about the purpose of the satellites:


German Hackers Are Building a DIY Space Program to Put Their Own Uncensored Internet into Space By Clay Dillow Posted 01.05.2012 at 10:00 am 26 Comments

"The first goal is an uncensorable internet in space. Let's take the internet out of the control of terrestrial entities," Mr Farr said. He cited the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) in the United States as an example of the kind of threat facing online freedom. If passed, the act would allow for some sites to be blocked on copyright grounds.

The Hackspace Global Grid[36] hacker hobbyist group was subsequently formed to "understand, build and make available satellite based communication for the hackerspace community and all of mankind."

January 10th: #BlackoutSOPA

On January 10th, 2012, SF Gate[37] published an article about the #BlackoutSOPA Twitter campaign in which Twitter users changed their profile images to have black banners captioned with "STOP SOPA" in protest of the bill. Users had been using the BlackoutSOPA[38] web application that automatically edits the Twitter profile picture after being given access to the account.


#BlackoutSOPA ,. Follow @BlackoutSOPA uke 157 You and 2,417 people changed their profile picture to protest SOPA STOP SOPA Logout Awesome! Your new picture will appear on @shontelaylay in a few seconds Tweet "Join me & change your profile picture to protest SOPA: http://www.BlackoutSOPA.org/" STOP SOPA Help spread the word! A special badge will also be unlocked when we reach 10,000! Download your badgefor using it on Facebook, Tumblr and elsewhere If you want to be notified about updates at BlackoutSOPA.org Enter your email Subscribe Preview of each badge 2,202 people chose this badge Make this my profile picture Most recent: @shontelaylay, @chris_radcliff, @shaneo0131, @sklacy, @nreville STOP SOPA @scared_penguin and thanks also @mattcutts, @bijan, @fredwilson 187 people chose this badge STOP SOPA Make this my profile picture) Most recent: @ColeJohnsonx, @jedsundwall, @petermark, @cricque, LiveWithMoxe @Envinyanta, @cliffwildman, @DarkCougar, @SueCline, @albertograzi 28 people chose this badge Make this my profile picture Most recent: @tadywankenobi, @michael_ormonde, @kudoz, @HonJanna, @jfals82 @MrTravisB, _carson, @gsharma, @MaxTemkin, @rgmanaya Revert to this original pictureorDownload your original

The same day, Reddit announced on their official blog[39] that they would be blacking out Reddit on January 18th from 8am to 8pm EST, the same day Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian would be testifying before congress.

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.

On January 16th, Wikimedia founder Jimmy Wales announced that the English-language Wikipedia will be participating in a 24-hour blackout on January 18th, joining the pledges of several other Internet companies like Reddit, Cheezburger, Wordpress, Zynga and Mozilla among others. The 24 hour shutdown of Wikipedia will be replaced with instructions on how to reach out to your local US members of congress:

An important message from WIKIPEDIA The Free Encyclopedia 18nt JANUARY, 2012 The internet must remain free. For over a decade, global volunteers have compiled billions of facts and contributed millions of hours to build Wikipedia We have only been able to do this because the Internet is free and open But right now, the United States Congress is considering legislation that would hard repressive censorship tools to large con·mercial lobbyists and could destroy the freedom and openness that has made Wikipedia what it is today Please, consider whether a free and open Internet that includes Wikipedia is something that you, too, care about. Use the tool below to take action. Help protect the Internet. Read more Does your representative support this? rcontinue Ton The Internet Must Remain Free The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) threaten the very fiber of the internet and free knowledge. Without a free intenet, Wikipedia cannot exist as we know it. Please call your Representative or Senator and urge them to vote against the SOPA and PIPA acts. Read more Call your Congressperson Continue to Wikipedia


January 12th: SOPA Sponsor's Copyright Infringement

On January 12th, Vice Magazine published an article titled "The Author of SOPA is a Copyright Violator,"[41] pointing out that Congressman Lamar Smith had used a nature photograph as a background image for his website without the artist's permission, as shown in an archived screenshot from July 24th, 2011. Upon tracking down the photographer DJ Shulte who took the photograph, it was discovered that no request for permission was given.


Lamar, Smith HOME ABOUT NEWS ISSUES ENDORSEMENTS GET INVOLVED CONTACT CONGRESSMAN CONGRESSMAN SMITH WORKS HARD, VOTES RIGHT AND STAYS IN TOUCH CONTRIBUTE ONLINE EMAIL NEWSLETTER EMAIL ADDRESS Welcome to my campaign website. Thank you for taking the time to visit this site where you can find out more about my work in Congress and my campaign. I am grateful for the support I have received in past elections and will work hard to earn your trust in the future. ZIP CODE Subscribe This election will determine whether we elect conservatives to restrain federal spending, oppose tax hikes, and stop the liberal agenda ARE YOU IN DISTRICT 21? As the senior Republican on the Judiciary Committee, I work every day to defend the Constitution. That means reining in government control, treating terrorists as terrorists, and securing our borders. AUSTIN Your support of my efforts would be much appreciated KERRVILLE

On the following day of the post, Vice launched an open campaign known as "Shop a SOPA" Copyright Hypocrite Hunt in order to catch other copyright infringement associated with supporters of the bill.

January 18th: Blackout Protests

At midnight on January 18th, the English version of Wikipedia went offline and Google featured a censored out logo on its homepage, linking to its own call for action page in protesting against PIPA and SOPA. The well-known tech blogs BoingBoing went offline for the day and Wired blacked out its text on the frontpage. The blogging platform Wordpress also featured a grid of "censored" thumbnails in place of the regular blog thumbnails. Mozilla featured a similar call to action on its homepage. Reddit also participated in the blackout protest, going offline for 12 hours from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. Cheezburger sites went dark with a pop-up message encouraging visitors to contact senators regarding the bills. The reverse image search engine Tineye also went offline in protest. Image hosting service imgur also went offline. Quickmeme posted a bulletin message with links to external pages on homepage.


OW STOP CENSORSHIP> FIGHT THE POWAH Name E-mail Subject Submit Comment eCAPTCHA Verification r. 다op span. read booid File Choose File No file chosen Password Password used for file deletion) Supported file types are: GIF, JPG, PNG Maximum file size alowed is 2048 KB Images greater than 250x250 pcels will be thumbnailed Read the nules and FAQ before posting. .0このサ仆について·担訳 Cumently 2256 unique user posts Are you a bad enough dude to help save the Web? STOP SOPA AND PIPA REDDIT IS DOWN 935 51 SOPA and PIPA damage Minecraft today we fight back Dear reddit PROTECT IP/SOPA Breaks The Internet Today, for 12 hours, reddit.com goes dark to raise awareness of two bills in congress: H.R.3261 "Stop Online Piracy Act" and S.968 "PROTECT IP which could radically change the landscape of the Internet. These bills provide overly broad mechanisms for enforcement of copyright which would restrict innovation and threaten the existence of websites with user- submitted content, such as reddit PROTECT IP/SOPA Breaks The Please take today as a day of focus and action to learn about these destructive bills and do what you can to prevent them from becoming reality I HDvime0 make a call sign the petition learn more Live Updates Last updated 10 23am 9:54am Video of my appearance on @CNN this morning action of the hour speak out SOPA PIPA #Blackout Alexis Ohanian Write a letter to the editor of your local paper, opposing the bills. Contact local news stations and let them know that this is an issue worth covering. 9-26am t's The Internet's Moment@Forbes httpoll.co/6OLx Chog sblackout-Alexis Ohanian 9:00am Emergency NY Tech Moetup to stop SOP/PIPA Important Upcoming Dates oday at 12.30pm- 780 3rd Ave httpo/t.coUtQrSNMw ablackout -en martin 8:40am . January 24, 2012-Senate votes on PIPA . February-House Judiciary Committee continues its markup of SOPA Well played @Fark has gone WHITE in SUPPORT of SOPAPIPA! Find out why httpol/t.co/CzLWaevi blackout-enik martin I Can Has C rt All Sites HEEZ Cats Dogs mes Weddings Burritos heezburger Login Emai Password CHEEZBURGER NEEDS YOUR HELP. Login HOME This and millions of other Most Shared of the sites could be censored by the US government. A bill called PIPA proposed in the US Senate will cripple the Web one of the biggest job-creating engines in America -and censor our online freedoms. It could mean the censoring of Cheezburger, Facebook, Wikipedia, and millions of others. It wil mean censoring you. Click to see All Kittehs I VIDEO: The Da We need to tell our Senators that this bill needs to be stopped. Add to Favorites The Day The LOL Tell Me More CHEEZ burger No Thanks
503: Service Unavailable Boing Boing is offline today, because the US Senate is considering legislation that would certainly kill us forever. The legislation is called the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), and would put us in legal jeopardy if we linked to a site anywhere online that had any links to copyright infringement. This would unmake the Web, just as proposed in the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). We don't want that world. If you don't want it either, visit AmericanCensorship.org for instructions on contacting your Senator. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has more information on this and other issues central to your freedom online. Thanks The Boingers 9 % mozilla Firefox Protect the Internet Help us stop Internet censorship legislation Today Mozila joins with other sites in a virtual strike to protest two proposed laws in the United States, called SOPA and the PROTECT IP Act. On January 24th, the U.S. Senate will vote on the PROTECT IP Act to censor the Internet, despite opposltion from the vast majority of Americans. Join us to protect our rights to free speech, privacy, and prosperity. Wha's this about? s at risk? The reault? is it done What about plracy? The proposed Intrastructure would Your favorte websies, both inside danage the security of the Intemet and ouside the US, could be and allow the govemment eensive censorship ablaites The US ill be able to bleck a warch tafic using the same by China, In and Syria sPiracy is a problem but thene a beter ways to addrea tat don tfe Innoation, knowledge and creadvity- or give the US such unchecked power over the giobal sigle speach and Innovation on the Internet, under the banner of ant-piracy eforts blocked based on ininganent claim, without ary due webete censorship methods used Take Action Now! Statements from Mozlla: Chairwoman Mitchell Bakker-CEO Gary Kovacs Outside the US? Get your friends in the US to taloe action today Don't Censor the Web Tel Congress No on SOPA and PIPA Don't Censor the Web. Tell Congress No on SOPA and PIPA Pe Sign The Petition Now Google Why Censoring Wired UBSCRBE SECTIONSBLOG REVIEWS VIDEO HTOS MAGAZINE» UNCENSOR THIS PAGE Sign In | RSS Feeds All Wired Don't Cen the Web. Tell Congress No on SOPA a Sign The Petition No

The news of websites' blackout protests were immediately picked up by CNN, New York Times and other news agencies, including several mainstream publishers who have written little about the debate in Congress. On the following day, the organizers behind the protest released a report explaining the turnout in numbers: at least 115,000 websites participated in the strike, 10 million signatures were signed to Google's homepage petition and over 3 million e-mails (excluding ones sent from Wikipedia) were sent to Congress. In addition, thousands of demonstrators attended real-life protests in New York, San Francisco, and elsewhere.

January 20th: SOPA / PIPA Hearings Postponed

On January 14th, CNET[43] reported that senator Orrin Hatch (R-Utah), Jeff Sessions (R-Ala.) and Mike Lee (R-Utah) asked to postpone the vote on PIPA:

"We have increasingly heard from a large number of constituents and other stakeholders with vocal concerns about possible unintended consequences of the proposed legislation."

On January 18th, the New York Times[44] reported that congressmen Marco Rubio (R-FL) and John Cornyn (R-TX) had abandoned support for the bill. The same day, the LA Times[45] reported that co-sponsors of SOPA Lee Terry (R-NB) and Ben Quayle (R-AZ) pulled their names from SOPA House bill.

By January 20th, seven co-sponsors of PIPA and a total of 45 Senators had either withdrawn their sponsorships or opposed the legislation of the bills, according to a count by OpenCongress. Later that day, Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid released a statement indefinitely postponing the vote on SOPA and PIPA, originally scheduled for congressional hearings on January 24th.

In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday’s vote on the PROTECT IP Act #PIPA. There’s no reason that legitimate issues raised about PROTECT IP can’t be resolved. Counterfeiting & piracy cost 1000s of #jobs yearly #pipa. Americans rightfully expect to be fairly compensated 4 their work. I’m optimistic that we can reach compromise on PROTECT IP in coming weeks.

Search Interest

Search queries for "internet blacklist", "protect ip" and "stop online piracy" rose dramatically in October 2011.

External References

[1] OpenCongress – S.968 – PROTECT IP Act

[2] OpenCongress – H.R.3261 – Stop Online Piracy Act

[3] Change.org – Stop the Internet Control Bill Petition

[4] Electronic Frontier Foundation – What's On the Blacklist? Three Sites That SOPA Could Put at Risk

[5] American Censorship – American Censorship Day: Nov 16, 2011

[6] Reddit – Stop the ridiculous PROTECT IP Act right now. Sign this petition for the love of the internet

[7] The Register – Google 'obstructed' Senate hearing on copyright

[8] Wired – Chief Sponsor Wavers on Web Censorship Bill in Charged Hearing

[9] CNET – Anti-censorship protests irk some Web surfers

[10] Fight for the Future – I Work for the Internet

[11] The Atlantic – A Web Celebrity-Spotting Guide to the Latest Anti-SOPA Site

[12] Gawker – Nerds’ Horrible Political Slogan Is ‘I Work for the Internet’

[13] Wikipedia – User_talk: Jimbo Wales

[14] Politico – SOPA bill markup exposes congressional divide

[15] KeepTheWebOpen – OPEN: Online Protection & ENforcement of Digital Trade Act

[16] Death And Taxes – News
OPEN Act: An Alternative to Internet Blacklist Bills SOPA and PROTECT IP

[17] CNET News – SOPA votes derailed by politician's 'offensive' tweet

[18] TechDirt – Go Daddy Supports E-PARASITE Legislation Even Though Its Own Site Is Dedicated To Theft Of Property Under Terms Of The Bill

[19] The Domains – Godaddy Likes The E-PARASITE Bill & TechDirt.com Rips Them

[20] The Domains – Here Is Godaddy’s Statement In Support Of The Stop Online Privacy Act House Hearing Tomorrow

[21] Reddit – GoDaddy supports SOPA, I'm transferring 51 domains & suggesting a move your domain day

[22] GoDaddy Support – Go Daddy’s Position on SOPA

[23] The Escapist – Internet Revolts Against GoDaddy's SOPA Support

[24] Ars Technica – GoDaddy Faces boycott over SOPA support

[25] Gizmodo – As If You Needed Another Reason to Hate F*cking GoDaddy

[26] International Business Times – GoDaddy.com's Support for SOPA Draws Heat from Competitors, Web Users

[27] TechCrunch – Cheezburger’s Ben Huh: If GoDaddy Supports SOPA, We’re Taking Our 1000+ Domains Elsewhere

[28] Jeff Epstein – A Step-by-Step Guide to Transfer Domains Out Of GoDaddy

[29] GoDaddy – Go Daddy No Longer Supports SOPA

[30] Fight For the Future – Go Daddy Boycott

[31] CNET – SOPA opponents may go nuclear and other 2012 predictions

[32] Geekosystem – Internet Giants Reportedly Considering Nuclear Option

[33] Fox News – Will Google, Amazon, and Facebook Black Out the Net?

[34] International Business Times – Will Facebook, Google and Twitter Blackout the Internet?

[35] BBC – Hackers plan space satellites to combat censorship

[36] Shackspace – Hackerspace Global Grid

[37] SF Gate – The Craze That's Taking Over Twitter Today

[38] BlacoutSopa.org – BlackoutSOPA

[39] Reddit Blog – Stopped they must be

[40] White House – Combating Online Piracy while Protecting an Open and Innovative Internet

[41] Vice – The Author of SOPA is a Copyright Violator

[42] Twitter – @RupertMurdoch's Tweet

[43] CNET – SOPA, PIPA opponents now in driver's seat

[44] New York Times – Web Protests Piracy Bills, and 4 Senators Change Course

[45] LA Times – Bills lose three co-sponsors amid protests

[46] OpenCongress – Protect IP Act Senate Whip Count

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