SOPA Blackout Takes Social Media Sites Offline
Posted by Patrick Murphy on Wed, Jan 18, 2012
The “futile” protest of many popular websites today during the SOPA blackout may actually be effective. As users logged on to Wikipedia this morning to quickly find out some facts the blackout notice greeted them. If it was Wikipedia alone, perhaps the effect wouldn’t be so profound, but everyone has noticed one of his or her favourite websites being inaccessible today. Something that could prove most disruptive is the fact that Wordpress.org is also taking part in the blackout, so anyone looking to browse support for their Wordpress website will run into a wall. Marketers and website managers will find the day especially difficult, with social media platforms like Reddit and Boing Boing taking part in the SOPA blackout, and with not being able to even access Wordpress support. The SOPA demonstrations have certainly caught a lot of people’s attention.
What’s the SOPA demonstration about?
Wikipedia decided to take their English language site offline as part of the ongoing protests against proposed anti-piracy laws in the United States. Wikipedia and other sites taking part in the demonstration are opposed to the US Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA), both of which are currently being debated in US Congress.
The SOPA and PIPA legislations would allow the US Justice Department and content owners to seek court orders to control search engines and have them block out search results that are associated with online piracy.
Users who log onto Wikipedia today will see a black screen and a statement: “Imagine a world without free knowledge”. There follows a message, “For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now US Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia.”
Whatever the outcome, many digital marketers and website managers will find some part of their online activity disrupted today. What site have you come across that are taking part in the blackout?
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