A day of Darkness – Top 3 Highlights
Today was the day that the internet went on strike to protest a set of laws racing through the US legal system that will cripple the internet. Laws that will bend the internet over, and allow big brother and the MPAA/RIAA to shove it’s grimy fingers on inside and go to town. It was a needed success. With Wikipedia, Google, Craigslist, and loads of other web giants participating, the impact was huge. And there’s no denying the discussion we saw on facebook, and the trends we saw on twitter.
My own sites participated. And our voices were heard, by at least some people. Over the course of a day – 3 members of congress changed their minds. And a whopping 13 members of the senate pulled up their pants and put away the Astro Glide. Let’s hope some more follow suit, and that we can finally get these proposals crushed out of existence.
Now we all know I’m not one to waste time with words, so while we’re here, let’s take a look at the blackout highlight reel. And please, if you oppose this bill, and you enjoy the way the internet has enabled us to be creative, open and free – sign this petition.
SOPA/PIPA Blackout Highlights
1. Mark Zukcerberg says “SOPA IS TEH SUCK!”
In more or less words, Zuck hated on Sopa via facebook today.
2. The Oatmeal makes an anti-sopa GIF image
I think by far, this is one of my favorite “Blackouts” I saw all day. Matthew Inman, better know as The Oatmeal, blacked out his site today with this GIF image:
3. The Lonely Island & Aziz Ansari say “The MPAA pays our bills, but we hate SOPA”
OK, I may have paraphrased that, but today Andy Samberg, Aziz Ansari, and a number of other hollywood actors came out opposing the bill. And The Lonely Island made an official post. To see actors and record producers going to this length to tell the public that this is unjust is amazing, and cripples the arguments against the MPAA and RIAA.
I’ll post some more SOPA related articles soon, but for now guys, lets take a breather, and move on with the fight. Today was a day that will go down in internet history, and coming out of today, at least we can say that the vast majority of our public is informed.