Internet Blackout Day

Here's a quick Angry Aine post:

From the Fight for the Future's SOPA Strike site.

I'm glad Wikipedia opted to join the protests.

You're all geeks. You probably know it's the anti-SOPA blackout day. Normally, this is about when I would link you to some helpful Wikipedia article that would explain the context surrounding this event.  Wikipedia would give you a free rundown of the legal implications of the bill. It would link to other related articles about the protests so you could figure out why all the cat pictures went away. But today, you get to see what the world would be like without all that free knowledge. (Probably not a bad time to throw them a few bucks, now that I think about it).

Minecraft joins the blackout.

Maybe not all of you remembered the protests were today. Actually, if you're an insomniac like me, or you're waking up to head to work, you might be reading this before 8am. In which case, you may have a few frantic moments of Reddit before the blackout starts in earnest. Otherwise, you may have hopped on to MineCraft for "just one quick block," only to find the cutest SOPA blackout message I've seen so far. Oh, Notch. But of course, there are hundreds of sites joining in today. You'd be hard pressed to find someone not affected by the blackout.

A Softer World captured my feelings exactly.

I'm not going to insult your intelligence by lecturing you about how SOPA and PIPA are ... what's the term? "Fucking ridiculous." If you're smart enough to have turned on whatever device lead you to the internets today, you aren't likely to be a SOPA supporter. So you're already as pissed as I am that they're trying to shit all over everyone's right to freedom of expression in exchange for piles of money. Some writers are trying to keep cool and tactful when discussing this nonsense. I don't know how you feel, but I'm not interested in the "I understand why, but..." diplomatic articles. In my opinion, there is no acceptable excuse for these bills.



SOPA and PIPA are complete bullshit. Congress (and those paying them to support censorship) need to knock it the hell off. Period. End of goddamned story. If you want a more moderate, or less swear-filled, discussion about the bills, check Google... while you still can. When you've let your anger build to a good head of steam, write a letter to Congress.

Google: End Piracy, Not Liberty.