Reddit Blackout Coming January 18th to Protest SOPA
Reddit Blackout Coming January 18th to Protest SOPA
Posted 01/10/2012 at 4:32pm
| by Ryan Whitwam
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The public outcry over the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) is not about to die down. Popular discussion board and social news site Reddit has just announced that it will be blacking out on January 18th from 8AM-8PM EST in protest of the likely passage of the legislation. In place of the user-generated madness that is Reddit, the site will host a simple message about how SOPA and PIPA would negatively affect sites like Reddit.
Both pieces of legislation, SOPA in the House and PIPA in the Senate, would give unprecedented power to copyright holders to force websites offline. A site found to be hosting any copyrighted content could find its domain name blocked, even if that content was uploaded by a user. Search engines and ISPs would be forced to scrub offending websites from listings without judicial review. Clearly a site like Reddit would be especially vulnerable. Many experts on Internet infrastructure also have concerns that some provisions in SOPA/PIPA would make the net less secure.
Reddit is estimated to get over 20 million unique visitors each month. If even a fraction of those users call up their members of Congress, it might actually make an impact. Do you support the blackout?
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chart2006
January 11, 2012 at 9:22am
Emailed both my senators describing how this will hurt consumers. Additionally I explained to them that if they were the one senator to back the idea of overhauling the US Patent Office then they would gain the support of many of us in the tech fields. Essentially I said drop SOPA and stop putting band-aides on the gaping/sucking chest wound and fix the issue. The issue being USPO reform. Then I told him to listen to "When Patents Attack" by This American Life if they haven't done so already and this documentary style show will explain many of the issues and why we are so passionate about reform.
Biceps
January 10, 2012 at 11:56pm
Good job Reddit!! Google, and Facebook (so Page, Brin, Schmidt and Zukerberg) where are you in all this? You guys might have lobbyists, but they obviously aren't doing you any good.
Why hasn't Google changed their banner to a link to anti-Sopa sites? Why hasn't Facebook sent us a couple pop-ups and asked its HUGE population to speak up?
Props to Reddit for taking the lead.
firefox91
January 10, 2012 at 8:37pm
I contacted my senator about it and got the canned e-mail back but that was enough. The e-mail "explained" to me how it stops piracy and that my senator would ensure it was refined so that legitimate sites did not get punished. BS! Keep notes on who votes for SOPA. Those are the people you need to vote out of office. And don't be the one that refuses to vote for the party you don't like. If the PERSON voted for SOPA, his or her party is irrelivent.
bling581
January 11, 2012 at 10:38am
Same. I got an email back but it sounded like it was a general pre-written letter he just sends to anyone emailing about the issue.
I Jedi
January 10, 2012 at 10:46pm
You obviously haven't recognized how both parties trample on you.
firefox91
January 11, 2012 at 4:45am
You obviously didn't read what I wrote. I don't suppport either party. I think the 2 party system is what is broken with our government. But unless the SOPA supporter happens to have an indipendent running against them, who else are you going to vote for? I'm sure that Big Bird write in vote will help a lot.
Biceps
January 10, 2012 at 11:48pm
When did they start being separate parties again? They all have the same paymasters.
abowlofsoda
January 10, 2012 at 6:54pm
WTG Reddit. Someone has to take the initiative. Lets hope other sites jump in.
thespence88
January 10, 2012 at 6:43pm
I think the people who are online should really pay more attention to what Congress is doing to the internet right now. I don't think people realize how serious this is.
Even Soundcloud could be one to go down because some users upload music for people to download there.
savage4naves
January 10, 2012 at 5:50pm
No. How will I get my daily fix? Don't blame me when the sale of illegal narcotics goes through the roof on the 18th.
Marthian
January 10, 2012 at 5:10pm
I don't really see reddit as an important website. Granted, it will be very informing to them, but it's not essential to our internet browsing (not mine anyways).
However, if Google did a blackout for SOPA, THAT would be a huge effect on things... Or facebook.
Danthrax66
January 10, 2012 at 9:56pm
You must have never been on reddit then or have never heard of http://redditenhancementsuite.com/
tony2tonez
January 10, 2012 at 5:27pm
Facebook blacked out for 12hrs, think of the withdrawal effect it would have on people. Thats worse then a crack addict missing his next high FOR 12HRS!
Hey.That_Dude
January 10, 2012 at 5:42pm
Yeah, I have to agree. Black out all major sites like Google, Facebook, Bing, Youtube, and Netflicks and all the sudden people are gonna start to do something to get them back.
Regarding SOPA and PIPA, when the fall out of all the copyright holders hits and the economy falls in the toilet because they break the internet... Think about it. If the major sites get taken down because one person posts illegal content on them or they link to them, computer sales will slump, the IT industry suffers... The Mayans were right, Apocolypse.
Marthian
January 11, 2012 at 6:24am
Dude, seriously. Get your facts right, the Mayans NEVER said it was going to be the end of the world, it was the BS US media that said that, which is the same people not covering SOPA.
Hey.That_Dude
February 04, 2012 at 10:58am
I was being sarcastic. Jeez! What a kill joy.
I understand that it's just the start of the 4/5 age (can't remember) and that their gods would come down and take them away and... actually i think they were supposed to "cleanse the world in fire" or something to that effect.
livebriand
January 10, 2012 at 10:15pm
I completely agree. If reddit AND tons of other sites all black out at once, tons of people are bound to notice and complain to congress. SOPA and Protect IP are completely unacceptable and should not be passed.
mattman059
January 10, 2012 at 6:19pm
Netflix would be a little harsh...seeing as people actually pay to access the content...But I think a google outage or Facebook outage would been a good idea...
Biceps
January 10, 2012 at 11:50pm
You could spend the time writing a letter to your senator (again!).
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