Both SOPA and PIPA seriously jeopardize sites that include user contributed content, like Hubski.
If you are not aware of SOPA and PIPA, please learn more about them, and if you are a U.S. resident, consider contacting your representatives and share your opinion on these proposed bills.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation has a page to help you find your representatives and draft a letter:
https://wfc2.wiredforchange.com/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?...
FYI, Hubski won't be blacked out tomorrow. This is not because we don't oppose SOPA and PIPA. We absolutely do. However, the goal of blacking out Hubski would be to raise awareness. I believe that most of you are well aware of these bills, and don't think that a Hubski blackout would draw outside coverage.
Thanks!
Sorry, the web page you have requested is experiencing technical difficulties. The Webmaster has been alerted. You will be automatically redirected to the www.senate.gov home page after 10 seconds.
If this problem persists, please contact the Office of the Secretary Webmaster at webmaster@sec.senate.gov.
Maybe they'll get the message.
There is a powerful lobby behind these bills, and many in Congress are sympathetic to the lobbying industries and/or do not have technical backgrounds to understand the greater effects the bill will have. I think that both Congress and the industries behind these bills were surprised to see such resistance.
In addition to blocking bad legislation, IMHO this protest is a good thing because: 1) It sets a precedent that some aspects of an open internet will be vigorously defended, and 2) it further demonstrates how people can use the internet to organize and pressure their government.
A very real concern is the effect that SOPA/PIPA would have upon sites that facilitate this kind of organization. Personally, I doubt that we would have this large scale protest if Reddit didn't exist.
I don't know if I agree with that. What exists on Reddit are people. The place -- as much as some of us like it -- is just a place to gather. It's not a be all, end all in and of itself. And it's the people that matter in the end, not the place they gather at.
There are good people everywhere. And Reddit is just a current popular place they like to get together and swap stories and the like. Do not confuse the building for the people that go to it.
I don't think I am. Some 'places' facilitate certain actions better than others. Reddit has been successful at facilitating some types of actions. Some good, some questionable. Speaking personally, I would have never attended the Rally for Sanity if it weren't for my activity on that site. I have been active online for quite some time, but before Reddit, I hadn't experienced an online community that could coallesce around some particular actions.
Don't get me wrong, I am not saying that Reddit or sites like it don't have their drawbacks and limitations. But I do believe that in some instances they have facilitated action in ways that other places don't.
http://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Fear_and_Loathing_in_Las_Vegas_...
It seems like a lifetime, or at least a Main Era — the kind of peak that never comes again. San Francisco in the middle sixties was a very special time and place to be a part of. Maybe it meant something. Maybe not, in the long run... but no explanation, no mix of words or music or memories can touch that sense of knowing that you were there and alive in that corner of time and the world. Whatever it meant...
I think the real story here will be the ability of such powerhouses of the online world converging to say a collective "no" to our legislators. This is unprecedented stuff in the "new economy". Our old, corrupt politicians are going to have to pay heed to a new master. The old titans of industry are no longer the only games in town.
Most senators a few months ago had no idea what a "social aggregator" was. Well, they do now.