I’m not usually one to get political here at Blogger’s Alchemy – in fact, I deliberately keep political opinion off my blog. But this is an exception…
The Internet is Under Attack
If you’re a blogger, webmaster, or free user of the internet, turn off all distraction right now and focus on the information I’m going to share here.
The SOPA or ‘Stop Online Piracy Act’ is worming it’s way through the American political web, and if it is passed, significant online freedoms will be taken away, jeopardising freedom of speech, the ability to build new businesses online unhindered by large corporate entities, and more.
Watch this video for a brief overview of what the bill is aiming to do, then take action via the links below to spread the word and prevent this bill from taking effect:
What You Can do to Stop SOPA
1. If you’re a webmaster, consider joining the many other sites of all sizes across the globe (including major players like Google, WordPress, Wikipedia and Facebook) in the internet blackout on January the 18th from 8am-8pm.
WordPress bloggers can use one of the following plugins:
2. Go to the following sites to find out more, sign their petitions and follow the actions they suggest. If you’re in the US, use the links provided to email Congress. Use the buttons provided to share information about what’s happening with your social networks.
3. Write a post or article and spread awareness about SOPA, and encourage others to do the same.
4. Share this post as much as possible, along with any others you find which are covering this topic. There are many around.
For more in depth coverage, check out this article at WebProNews:
Stop SOPA Blackout set for January 18th: Here’s all the info
Now Take Action! It’s up to all of us…
UPDATE: Read my follow up post for the SOPA Strike Internet Blackout Results
Jan 18th Internet Blackout – Stop SOPA’s Internet Censorship © 2012 Blogger’s Alchemy
Here at Blogger's Alchemy, Jym shares simple tips, tricks, strategies and techniques to make blogs remarkable, successful and exceptional. For a long time, he felt like his blogging career was going nowhere fast. That is, until he learned and implemented the things that you'll learn if you stick around... Get the best from this blog by Subscribing Now
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[...] tomada de Bloggers Alchemy. __spr_config = { pid: '4e5bbc43c2b21929d900001a', title: '#SOPA ¿Qué pasa después del [...]
SOPA and ACTA are BAD.
ACTA had move forward in Europe despite protests.
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While I believe that there should be a form to “protect” copyright infringements, I think that the way the SOPA as it looks, may seriously hamper the overall efficiency of the internet… It comes to a point that I have to think if when writing a post, I can or can not use say the word “Apple”…
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Hi Jym, this is very dangerous law for our online freedoms. Freedom of speech is the thing most important we have, and we need to protect our rights. I will share your post with friends and relatives.
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It’s extremely dangerous Melanie, and I agree, we need to stand up and be heard.
Thanks for sharing, and for your comment
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Jym,
Personally, I think it is extremely stupid for the SOPA. Not that I love my content to get pirated, just think about this, because of 1 bad guy did some bad thing in the company, people will need to close down the whole company. What’s the logic behind?
I can’t believe this was proposed in the first place…
Cheers,
Ming
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I agree Ming, this legislation is certainly NOT the answer.
Stopping Piracy is all very well, but there must be better ways to do it…
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Thanks for spreading the word! It looks like we really are making a difference! No one can stop the citizens of the internet!
From the progress reports I’ve seen, we are indeed, and partly because so many of us from across the world are taking action.
Well done especially to all the Americans who have and still are petitioning and contacting congress via various means – it seems the message is getting through.
But there’s still more to be done!
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I noticed Wikipedia threw in some iframe or something like that on all their pages, took me a few minutes to figure out how to bypass that because i really need the info. I guess this just proves how dependent we’ve become to these things we took by granted till now, and just how easy it is to lose them.
I pray that SOPA doesn’t pass.
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Yeah, Wikipedia is one of the big sites taking a stand against this SOPA, unsurprisingly.
When part of the internet is down for just one day, it gives some insight into what it may be like if it becomes restricted.
Thing is, the power of restriction would not be in the hands of people who have the common interest at heart, whether they claim to or not…
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I really hope that SOPA will not pass since I can’t imagine doing work and research with out free internet. And this can double our expenses since we have to pay for the internet provider then we also have to pay for the access of some sites.
Me too – another important point you raised is that more controls means the potential to have restricted access to some areas of the internet.
The whole point of the web is that it’s free and open, without that basic foundation we;d be living in a very different world…
By the way – please use ‘your name @ conference gifts’, I usually delete comments that don’t have a name, thanks
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Great post. May I use your Stop SOPA image on my own blog? Thanks!
Feel free Libby!
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Thank you! I’ve added it to my post. It’s amazing how this issue has united bloggers who usually disagree on everything, and drawn in those of us who don’t usually talk politics.
I appreciate the link, too, since I usually post my own photos, and definitely needed a little extra help when looking for images.
You’re welcome Libby – happy to help and glad you’re moved to be involved too.
Potentially this could affect all of us and I think it’s important to become aware of what’s happening and find ways to take action!
Jym invites you to read…Blog Post Length – How Long Should A Blog Post Be?
Hey Jym, I really like this plugins
*SOPA Strike
*Stop SOPA Ribbon
*Simple Stop SOPA plugin
Thanks for sharing, man!
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Welcome
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First, I’m not taking sides, I do however believe censorship to some degree would benefit the internet. Sites that copy blog engage for example would they be shut down? Like blogengage.net? Also I don’t even think this will affect anyone but the United States? How can one government control the entire internet? On the flip side we might as well all move to china seeing this is the direct we could be heading in.
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I hadn’t spotted BEnet before Bryan, I wouldn’t be happy if that happened to my site for sure! Do you have a copyright on design or anything?
When I’ve had content scraped I successfully got it taken down by contacting the host of the site in question, who have in turn had the offending material removed.
From what I can see SOPA and PIPA wouldn’t be of help in these kinds of instances anyway, it’s more the large entertainment companies who stand to gain influence over who’s allowed to encroach on their ‘territory’, or even link to anything they consider an infringement of their rights.
I agree that protections against theft and copyright are a good idea, but it gets quite sticky as soon as control is centralized around governments or powerful corporate entities who’s agenda is not to provide the best possible service to everyone – but to uphold their personal interests and profits.
The implication of this bill being passed in the US is that other countries will follow suit, and as we know some other governments are even more blatantly unscrupulous that ours in the West…
What that could lead to is a variety of differing censorship bubbles across the world essentially splitting the global internet and restricting freedom of speech and access to information for all users.
Agreed the Chinese are already ahead of the game re:censorship, perhaps if we based ourselves there our online experience may be slightly more predictable!
I guess we’ll have to see how it all pans out eh?!
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I was reading about SOPA and came across this article. I was not aware about the Jan 18th strike and good to see that already there are plugins to help webmaster. We should do our part no matter how small it may look.
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Absolutely Sanjeev – the nature of the internet is such that we all have a voice, more than in any other medium…
It’s all the webmasters, bloggers, geeks and others standing together alongside the might of Google, Wikipedia etc which will ultimately swing the vote!
We should play our part indeed. If not us, then who?
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Hi Jym,
thanks for sharing this and creating awareness. Why should I trust the US government ? I have no reason to do so, so it becomes critical to spread the word about their plans.
Be blessed
Oliver
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Even if there is some validity to the acts in question Oliver, the potential power being handed over to governments and corporate entities over our freedom is far too open to abuse.
I believe that there are those in politics and big business across the world who have the interests of the world at heart, but also those who don’t.
So for the benefit of all, this kind of legislation must be stopped.
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This is really a big issue that a lot of companies got bankrupt because of it.
I guess they won’t be able to end it but they can move to a better situation.
Thanks for the post and for the video
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There’s certainly a potential for serious financial problems for many online companies Faissel.
Hopefully if enough people take action and make some noise we can prevent these acts from being implemented at all…
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I’m glad you wrote this post as I (even though I’m not even a small fish) want to act on this. I feel it is important to take a stand for less govt involvement in a lot of things. First they want to legislate morality and now speech. I say it is time to do something, because doing nothing doesn’t bring about change. Sally
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Worst thing is, it’s not only the government in this case Sally.
The implications of these pieces of legislation go beyond that to empower large corporate bodies to initiate blocks against anything that they perceive as threatening to their monopolies.
If America – the land of the free – allows this, think what the knock on effect might be in other less liberal countries around the world…!
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