Senators drop support of piracy bill after protests

[AGDee]

Google's "black out" included a petition that was signed by 4.5 million.

MC: It was my understanding that the point of the blackout was to demonstrate what the Internet would look like under SOPA. Key sites that would probably be shut down completely under SOPA obviously are against SOPA and used this as a way to show the effects. In reality, far more sites would be rendered useless under SOPA than those participating.

[MysticCat]

Originally Posted by ElieM

Wiki obviously.

Except not really. Like I said, their mobile pages were working just fine, which made me wonder why they bothered. (Even my middle schooler talked at supper about how he needed to look something up while at school so he pulled up the mobile version of The Wiki on his laptop.)

Originally Posted by DubaiSis

Well, not exactly. As the article states, Google "went dark" by making their google face literally dark. It just didn't go dark in the sense of shutting down. Semantics? Absolutely. And not an exaggeration if you want to split hairs.

I'll admit it. I used Google a number of time yesterday and never even noticed this.

What this should show people is if you browbeat your elected officials, they WILL listen. Well, they'll listen if you can get several hundred people to browbeat them along with you.

I don't think it shows that at all -- who was browbeating anybody?

My guess is that petitions and lobbyists for The Wiki et al did far more to convince some politicians to rethink their support of SOPA (in its present form) than did any "going dark."

Originally Posted by DrPhil

The fact that sites like Google, facebook, and twitttter either did no blackout or a halfassed blackout means something.

Exactly.

Originally Posted by AGDee

MC: It was my understanding that the point of the blackout was to demonstrate what the Internet would look like under SOPA. Key sites that would probably be shut down completely under SOPA obviously are against SOPA and used this as a way to show the effects. In reality, far more sites would be rendered useless under SOPA than those participating.

Yeah, I get that was their point. That was not the message I received, though. The message I received was



Claims like "this is what the web would be like if SOPA passes" strike me as so hyperbolic as to be counterproductive.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by MysticCat

Yeah, I get that was their point. That was not the message I received, though. The message I received was



Claims like "this is what the web would be like if SOPA passes" strike me as so hyperbolic as to be counterproductive.

I agree, I wager the web looked the same for most people.

The most votes on the MSN poll seemed to be respondents who do not surf the web, do not go to blogs, did not notice a black Google icon, and/or do not go to wikipedia or could not care less if wikipedia is inaccessbile. Afterall, the web and other modes of technology have an impact on society and socialization but what did we do before this stuff existed? We found less lazy and more creative ways to find answers to our questions and procrastination tools.

[KSig RC]

Originally Posted by DrPhil

Afterall, the web and other modes of technology have an impact on society and socialization but what did we do before this stuff existed? We found less lazy and more creative ways to find answers to our questions and procrastination tools.

This is the world's most ironic "GET OFF MY LAWN" post ... honestly, I'm surprised.

[DrPhil]

Originally Posted by KSig RC

This is the world's most ironic "GET OFF MY LAWN" post ... honestly, I'm surprised.

Newsflash:
I have been saying what I said for 10+ years on and off Greekchat.

Do you have other profundities to share? LOL.

[TonyB06]

Originally Posted by AGDee

Google's "black out" included a petition that was signed by 4.5 million.

MC: It was my understanding that the point of the blackout was to demonstrate what the Internet would look like under SOPA. Key sites that would probably be shut down completely under SOPA obviously are against SOPA and used this as a way to show the effects. In reality, far more sites would be rendered useless under SOPA than those participating.

I can only imagine how many "chiefs of staff" were getting chewed out by their members yesterday, thinking SOPA was a below-the-radar easy sign-off, limited opposition bill.

[christiangirl]

^^^I agree with what you said about being over congratulatory. That article didn't say the bill itself was being dropped.

Originally Posted by DrPhil

The only major and widely used site that was dark is wikipedia. Even that is blah.

I was using Wiki all day yesterday. Just searched what I needed on Yahoo!, went to the result that went to Wiki, and hit "cached." The screenshot still gave me what I needed. Blackout fail.

When I ask what the bill is about, everyone says "It's going to censor the internet!!" and "This black screen is what the internet will look like." The first response is vague as hell and the second is highly exaggerated which makes me wonder exactly how many people actually know what they are opposing.

[KSigkid]

One of the most bizarre parts of all of this, from my perspective, has been that Chris Dodd has been the most outspoken lobbyist in favor of the bill. A few years before he left the Senate, he said he wouldn't become a lobbyist. Now, I know everyone has to pay the bills, but it's weird to hear him basically threaten to withhold political contributions to politicians who don't support the legislation.