back to article A preview of SOPA: Web shut down before my eyes

On Saturday, 7 January, a Canadian DNS host named EasyDNS winked out of existence. This was a preview of what SOPA promises to be like. Suffering from a massive DDoS, all DNS services provided by EasyDNS simply ceased to function. Metacritic and DSL Reports are two examples of sites that affected me directly. Random but …

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  1. Aitor 1

    Not american

    I have also decided not to host in the US.

    There are several reasons for me:

    -Insecure. Weak privacy laws, the government might want to intrude my systems, legally insecure for me as they might argue that I am doing business in the US...

    -Slow. I live in EU ant most of my users are in the EU (some are in south america, spanish..)

    These kind of laws just mean that they are making it a less nice place to do business.. and not only that, but they are making it less desirable to do business with us companies or companies that have a stake in the US.

    I have also moved away from having hosted services in Spain, as they are less proffesional (bad service) than abroad.. and then we have our own US-imposed SOPA: SINDE law... carefully dictated by the US (and we have prove: leaked cables).

    As for EasyDNS, I am also a customer.. I am testing their services for a couple of weeks and will start having a paying service this week.

    1. Danny 5
      Thumb Up

      caged

      If the US wishes to "protect" itself from online piracy outside the US, they will simply cage themselves. this legislation is more proof that the powers that be just don't understand how the internet works.

      if you restrict my business in doing what it's always done, business, then i'm going to seek outside resources, outside being another country. there is no other result then complete isolation for the US, which i assume is the most unwanted result possible.

      1. Drew V.

        SOPA could have positive effects, like global decentralization

        This is why on one level I say, GOOD, let them cage themselves and close themselves off. We in Britain, Europe, and elsewhere can then concentrate on doing our own thing, build up our own server farms, build our networks that are more independent and can survive on their own, more non-American search engines, etc., etc.

        To those who say "nobody is safe, there will be an avalanche of extradition cases"...well, how long do you think those extradition laws will remain on the books if it becomes bloody chaos? The cause for not extraditing anyone to the USA, except in very rare cases, will become very strong indeed. And international treaties be damned, they will just have to be amended, which they will be if so many states in the world become frustrated with the extradition situation.

        But of course, at the same time a huge danger remains...namely that instead of doing our own thing, our governments will start to copy SOPA, that they will take the lazy way out and follow the American example. That would truly be the worst case scenario and we have to do everything we can to prevent it...not so much prevent SOPA, but prevent it becoming a standard that everyone adopts.

    2. Keith T
      Big Brother

      Hosting in the USA a bad idea with or without SOPA

      If you host in the USA then US officials have easy access to your customer's data, your customers have no privacy.

      And if you have some civil litigation, US courts are much more harsh on foreigners than US citizens, and it is not just customary, there are even regulations requiring this.

      Unless you need to, because most of your traffic is US based, hosting in the USA is a bad idea.

      1. Tom 38

        I host in the UK

        But I'm still slightly concerned - my domain is a .com. Under SOPA, that's classed as a 'domestic' site, even though it has fuck all to do with the US.

        Thinking I may have to register a .co.uk and return the .com.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          Re: Tom

          Get the co.uk and have the .com auto-redirect. You don't have to return it. Just a thought...

  2. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Hosting outside the US won't work

    especially when Pres Obama signed into law an act that extends US laws worldwide. There is no hiding place.

    You might be in Country A and host something that is perfectly legal in that Country BUT illegal (vis breaks copyright) in the US.

    The US could try to get you extradited but Country A says 'bog off'.

    Then you go to another country 'B' on vacation or Business. Country 'B' has signed up to be 'America's Bitch' and hands you over to the US.

    You get taken to the US and suddenly, you are lost. You will have no rights to a lawyer, legal representation and can be held indefinitely without charge or trial.

    Please explain how hosting outside the US is going to stop you coming under SOPA/PIPA or whatever crazy law that Hollywood dreams up next week.

    Anon. That will at least make them work a bit harder to send the Black Helicopters for me.

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Re: Hosting outside the US won't work

      >especially when Pres Obama signed into law an act that extends US laws worldwide. There is no hiding place.

      Hahahahahaaaa........

    2. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      @AC at 11:06

      The USA has the money (for now, China will have it all soon).

      The USA has the guns.

      The USA has their sock-puppet nations (e.g. UK)

      Thus USA laws already apply worldwide.

      Only a terrorist would disagree with USA freedoms, so if one disagrees one must be a terrorist.

      One will then be renditioned and tortured until one gives the correct answers.

      You will all obey the land of the free.

      1. Keith T
        Big Brother

        US freedoms? You can read about them in history books, but

        US freedoms? You can read about them in history books, but sadly that is about it.

      2. Shades

        I'm more interested...

        ...how you managed to sneak markup past El Regs input filters*?

        *unless those filters were otherwise known as moderators, who no-longer prowl these lands.

    3. Keith T
      Big Brother

      He said his customers are outside the USA so is it not obvious?

      He said his customers are outside the USA, so is the answer to your question not obvious?

      He won't care if the US government blocks him.

      And his customers can be assured that their data is not easily available to any US official who wants it.

      1. Yet Another Anonymous coward Silver badge

        Assuming he doesn't want paying.

        eBay, all the credit cards and almost all banks do whatever the USA wants

    4. Keith T
      Big Brother

      His says his clients are mostly outside of the USA,

      His says his clients are mostly outside of the USA, so why would he care if the USA blocked him?

    5. PatientOne

      As I recall, a statement was made during interview last yet that American courts don't care *how* you wind up in America, you'll be prosecuted if they think you broke American Law (possibly including illegal immigration at that point).

      Or, to put it simply: They are happy for bounty hunters to kidnap you from other countries, regardless of if an extradition treatise exists or not.

      1. Mark 65

        Bounty hunters

        hahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

        They may make good chav TV but they cannot operate outside of the US. To kidnap a citizen for extradition you need to extract that person from the country/continent. Best of luck with that one. Seeing as a bounty hunter cannot legally carry a concealed firearm in, for example, the UK I'd be oh so happy to see them "tough it out" against one of our trigger-happy CO19 units, let alone if the wanted person was part of, say, the Albanian mafia. Personally I'd piss myself laughing at seeing them try.

        1. PatientOne

          @Mark 65

          You're thinking in terms of getting someone out of the UK (specifically) without extradition proceedings. Sure, that's going to be hard and it's going to be expensive, but not impossible. However, popping over the boarder to Mexico to grab someone isn't difficult. Dangerous, perhaps, but not difficult.

          The point about bounty hunters is that they're private citizens: They can go anywhere they want as they don't need official sanction to travel. What they do outside of the US is at their own risk, and the US keep their hands clean if they're court. If they did kidnap someone in the UK and successfully sneak them over to the US, the US courts would likely approve the extradition of the accused, but they won't return the person kidnapped if they're wanted within the US - and that was the point being made in that interview (BBC I believe).

          Basically the US don't care about how they get their 'man', just that they do. Why this isn't common place is the backlash. They've weathered the Pakistan backlash when they went in after Binladen, and they'd endure the disapproval of the UK if they wanted someone badly enough over here, but most people are either not worth the cost and effort, the risk of political sanctions, or there are safer avenues to pursue first.

          So sure, dismiss the possibility, but just be aware the US has ignored foreign sovereignty before to get someone, and will do so again.

  3. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    JCB is not the only major Credit Card.. Union Pay is the Chinese one, and that is even accepted in places in London now!

    But none of this matters when the PM bends over for the USA and lets them extradite people for acts that are not even Crimes in the UK!

    Copyright Violation is not theft.

    Copyright Violation is not a crime,

    Copyright Violation is still a Civil offence in the UK,

    So please say NO to extradition when its not a crime here!

    1. jonathanb Silver badge

      JCB not only major credit card?

      I would go further than that and say that JCB is not a major credit card. Here in the UK, I see the JCB logo in shop windows next to the Visa, Mastercard and Amex logos, but I've never actually seen one of them.

      1. MJI Silver badge

        JCB Card

        Are they yellow amd tough?

      2. Evan Essence
        Meh

        I followed the link from the article, and their Web site is shite. Maybe I could get a card, but I'd never know from looking there.

        1. Drew V.

          The irony of JCB

          @Evan Essence

          That website is what you would expect from a Japanese financial company, i.e. not much of a window to the world outside because they figure they don't such a window.

          It's probably common knowledge that several Japanese markets have for the longest time been protected, if not to say outright protectionist, and that they tend to develop their own standards and Japan-only conglomerates and ways of doing things (for example, it's only in recent years that western-issued Visa and Mastercard have become genuinely useable there. You still have to go from ATM to ATM machine to find one that accepts your western-issued cards, but finding one takes considerably less time than it used to). The financial industry used to be an excellent example of this.

          What I am saying is that there is considerable irony in the fact that the only non-American global credit card company is Japanese, of all things.

  4. Steve Renouf
    Black Helicopters

    It's what the US does...

    Ride rough-shod over the rest of the world...

    1. Mark 65

      The US

      I laugh at the fact that everyone claims the UK is considered a colonial power in decline as if it were the only one and heartily welcome the US to the party. We, admittedly, had our day but how does it feel to slowly turn to shit in the modern world as opposed to the start of the 20th century?

      Bitter? No, just somewhat amused to see how the top dog takes its medicine.

  5. Neil Hoskins
    Flame

    This is a local dispute

    I have no interest in it. Wikipedia's decision to take the whole English-speaking world offline demonstrates once and for all that they are a dangerous cult and we shouldn't become too dependent on them.

    1. Rameses Niblick the Third (KKWWMT)

      Anyone that "depends" on Wikipedia as a source of information deserves all they get.

    2. BristolBachelor Gold badge
      Trollface

      The problem is that this dangerous cult is already convincing all the other countries to pass laws that their paymasters want. Just read up on it; Canada, Australia, Spain... Oh, and if that doesn't work, they just invade or put in puppet leaders (see the first laws passed in the new Iraq, or look in Afganistan or Egypt).

      I agree that we shouldn't become dependant on them. Also since they are so concerned about being affected by those outside their borders, they should close them, cut all the internet links and just become a big hermit state like North Korea.

      Oh hold on; did you mean Wikipedia is a cult? I thought you were talking about USA......

      1. nematoad
        Stop

        Tell that to the voters in Egypt

        "or put in puppet leaders (see the first laws passed in the new Iraq, or look in Afganistan or Egypt)."

        In actual fact if the polls are right then the Muslim Brotherhood and the Salafist Nour Party are going to form the majority in the new Parliament. Not something the people in Washington or Israel will welcome surely. So where are your "puppet leaders" going to come from?

        The Egyptians got rid of Mubarak by themselves with no help from outsiders.

    3. Nixon

      Wikipedia don't owe you anything.

      Stop being so entitled.

      You don't get to complain when a sit owner impedes access to THEIR OWN SITE, no matter how useful it is to you, or anyone else.

      Especially when it's done in protest of legislation that affects the entire world - hardly a local dispute.

      Can't tell if trolling or just stupid.

    4. This post has been deleted by its author

    5. Zaphod.Beeblebrox
      Meh

      Wikipedia blackout? What Wikipedia blackout?

      Ignore the silly Wikipedia blackout and use the mobile site (en.m.wikipedia.org) if you need to use them for something today.

      1. Evan Essence

        Or turn off Javascript. The point is that you *do* know about the blackout.

      2. David Barrett

        All they seem to have done is overlayed a div over the normal content showing a message, firebug/IE Dev toolbar does a good job of allowing access again.

    6. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Is Wikipedia blacked out?

      I've just been to Wikipedia and I get a message saying "The English Wikipedia is currently locked for the SOPA/PIPA blackout", but I can still read all the articles.

      I'm in Bolivia. Is Wikipedia actually blacked out if you access it from the UK or USA?

  6. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    The Taliban outlawed radios and kites

    The US seems to be going down a similar path...

  7. Thomas 18
    Thumb Down

    If the internet is the collective brain of humanity

    America is a swollen blood vessel just waiting to stroke out. I'm sure we will manage without them though.

  8. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    just more of the same

    They changed flight "transit" rules so you have to go through customs, apply for visas etc just to pass through there in transit. Not like that in any other country. Consequently I simply don't get flights "via" the US (never mind actually go there).

    Reap what you sow.

    1. Cheshire Cat
      FAIL

      Australia

      @AC 11:46: "They changed flight "transit" rules so you have to go through customs, apply for visas etc just to pass through there in transit. Not like that in any other country."

      You need transit visas in Australia, even if you don't leave the airport or even the plane, if you're not holding a passport that would give you an automatic visitor's visa. Here in NZ, every year at the end of term we see hordes of Chinese students queuing for Oz transit visas (cheapest route to China from NZ is via Oz)

      1. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        Who fucking cares?

        Unless you're headed to NZ (I'm sure they thank them for putting extra pressure on their tourism industry) nobody gives a fuck what Australia does, and I live there.

        1. Anonymous Coward
          Anonymous Coward

          As an Aussie ex-pat you are right

          no one gives a fuck, and that includes me.

          The country of my passport has become a joke and I am embarrassed every time I have to show it.

          Anon, obviously, since I don't want to be rendered ...

  9. Martijn Bakker
    Thumb Up

    Please support this fine law

    By all means, introduce DNS blocking. For all intents and purposes, this will mean that US bases DNS servers become unreliable. This creates opportunities for alternative DNS systems. Soon, we will have not one but many DNS services. A distributed system outside of the control of any one government. This might be a hassle at first, but it will actually make the internet more resilient.

    And feel free to hamstring your own businesses. Not only will business be discinclined to base their hosts in the US, they will also be disinclined to use US based banks, payment providers, add companies and other services because of the extra risk this legislation poses to business.

    Passing this law is an important step towards a free (if somewhat anarchistic) internet and a major step towards solving the Euro crisis. I'm not sure how it contributes to world peace and the proliferation of unicorns, but I'm sure we can think of a way.

    1. FutureShock999
      Stop

      Distributed system == Not trustworthy?

      As has already occurred with DNS itself, a loss of control of DNS services equates to a loss of security and opens holes for man in the middle and re-routing attacks. Trying to find secure, guaranteed routing would be like trying to find totally trustworthy and accurate information on Wikipedia - a fool's errand.

      The internet doesn't work, at least not well enough for things like on-line banking and secure email, unless safe routing can be assured. It is hard to envision a system of "community moderated" DNS that would not be subject to manipulation...

      1. Anton Channing

        NameCoin

        Well, the Dot-BIT project are currently experimenting with p2p dns in the namecoin project. It applies to .bit domains only but who knows, maybe one day all domain name will work that way.

        http://dot-bit.org/Main_Page

    2. veti Silver badge
      Unhappy

      If only that would work... What would actually happen (c.f. the DMCA) is more like:

      The US: "We've passed SOPA. Now it's your turn, UK/Europe/Etc: pass this version, which is more draconian and gives Hollywood the right to kidnap people from your country and hold them indefinitely."

      Some Plucky Country: "You have to be kidding, why would we do that?"

      The US: "Watch your trade with us decline. Watch as our politicians, and worse, Hollywood demonises your country in speeches, movies, blogs and news channels. Within two years your tourism will have dried up; within four years, you'll routinely see internet blowhards proposing we invade you. Within six years, at least two members of congress will have suggested it, because there is literally nothing they will not say if they think it will win them a cheap round of applause somewhere. If you don't think that's an uncomfortable position to be in, just ask the Iranians."

      SPC: "Can we at least keep our trousers on?"

    3. Mark 65

      The internet

      I'm sure the US will, at some point, regret just how good that system turned out to be.

  10. Asgard
    Mushroom

    All politicians backing SOPA need to be taken down hard. Supporting SOPA needs to be made a career destroying move. We need lists of every politician who backs it in any way and to publicly globally damn and condemn them during their re-election campaigns, to bring awareness of what a danger they are to freedom and freedom of speech.

    The US politicians talk of being in the “land of the free” so that needs to be used as the politicians Achilles heal so to speak. They want their people to believe they are free and everywhere else is less free, when really the backers of acts like SOPA are control freak politicians who are moving towards ever greater authoritarian control of their people and to meet the wishes of the growing global Corporatocracy.

    As these politicians want to fuck up our freedom then its time to fight back and bring them down hard and destroy their careers. We need to stand up to them and saying no more.

    1. Evan Essence

      You're talking as if democracy means something in the US.

      1. Asgard
        Big Brother

        @Evan Essence

        Unfortunately I know democracy means nothing in our time. Democracy has become a lie to make us think we have any say in how we are ruled, yet those rules are all too often chosen by the wishes of the rich and powerful who truly rule our lives. They are the growing global Corporatocracy that I referred to, who truly rule our lives and the lives of the politicians who they pay for.

        Yet the Internet can help expose that lie and its no wonder the politicians and rich and powerful would move towards a system of increased state control that allowed them all to shut down any site that exposes evidence of their wrong doing, under the guise of it being their copyrighted material, whist at the same time doing exactly what the rich and powerful corporations want in increasing their power to control all of us as well.

  11. Keith T
    Big Brother

    Test today: Which news media can you trust to report the facts?

    Today the SOPA and PIPA protest will reveal to the public which news media distorts news when it has a conflict of interest. Are your favorite news sources goodies or a badies? Today we will find out.

    Please read the links of the websites protesting SOPA and PIPA today to see what they are actually protesting.

    Please then read what the network news media says the protest is about.

    If you learn one thing one the internet today it will be the extent to which most major media companies, including network TV news and 24 hour news networks, and the print media organizations associated with them, cover-up, lie and distort when it suits their interests.

    And hopefully you will also find which news media sources you can rely on for the truth.

    1. Combat Wombat

      They are baddies... duh

      All the parent companies for these news orgs wrote cheques to get this shit sammich passed.

  12. Oor Nonny-Muss
    WTF?

    Wikipedia is working here just fine....

    ... in English. However when I let it run the scripts from wikimedia.org, it stops.

    NoScript wins again :)

  13. Scott 2
    FAIL

    If you're gonna protest... do it right.

    ... and don't just add a crap script to the wikipedia header... Just use NoScript to bypass the Wiki blackout :|

    1. johnnytruant

      perhaps they are making a subtle point

      That determined and knowledgeable people can still get the information. Just as determined and knowledgeable people will still be able to access copyright-infringing content after SOPA/PIPA.

    2. Matthew Collier
      Thumb Up

      NoScript +1

      Indeed. Why would you want to run scripts on sites that don't need it, routinely anyway? I had to turn scripts on, as at first, I couldn't see what the "blacked out" page looked like. It was still working until I did that (I just wanted to see what it looked like).

    3. Gary B.
      Facepalm

      Did you bother to read their protest?

      Clearly not, as they explicitly mention that their goal isn't to entirely block the English wikipedia content. They *purposely* did it with a cheesy script for the very purpose of allowing people to still access the content if they really need too, and they only wanted to raise awareness of SOPA and PIPA.

      While on the subject, many people are completely misunderstanding SOPA and PIPA. Yes, the way they are currently written is highly dangerous for freedom of speech/etc. However, a lot of this is also speculation about how they *could possibly* be applied. From some of the reports about them, you would think these laws specifically grant some of the nasties people are talking about, which isn't true. I am against these two bills, but I did do some of my own research instead of just blindly following what others say. But, don't take my word for this, go read the bills yourself.

  14. amanfromMars 1 Silver badge

    Who's fooling who about who's only fooling whenever it is real. Is CyberWar real in a Great AI Game?

    Cryptome and Wired, both on the DHS Hit List ..... http://epic.org/foia/epic-v-dhs-media-monitoring/ ..... are presently dark/undergoing treatment. Just a coincidence maybe?

  15. Matt D
    Facepalm

    JCB - "Made with Macromedia"

    I think if JCB are going to be taken seriously, they might want to update their "international homepage": Copyright© 2001-2009 JCB International Co., Ltd.

    Y'ouch that smarts...

  16. Peter Gathercole Silver badge

    JCB and Union Pay

    It does not matter where the card payment system is run from, if the US administration decides and has legislation that would prevent that operator from processing payments from/to US banks, then the location of the card operator is irrelevant.

    Say, for the sake of argument, a US person used a foreign credit card to pay for a service outside of the US, if that person was not able to pay the credit card company back (because no US bank would be allowed to transfer funds to the card operator because they were on a blacklist), then the payment vector soon becomes unusable to US customers. This would be in addition to it being unable to operate as a payment processor in the US as well.

    If the person tried to use some off-shore method of paying the card, then eventually they would either be pulled up by the money laundering legislation that the US and western countries have, or that offshore financial organisation would also be black listed.

    Even in these times of financial stricture, the US is still an important enough market that non-US financial organisations try to keep within the US's obnoxious rules. And sufficient numbers of foreign governments follow the US (and Japan where JCB is based is one of these) will just roll over and let the US walk all over their national legislation.

    The US is too powerful, and becoming too led by business to be fought, unfortunately. I think we will all see this over the next 5 years, unless the dollar looses it's pre-eminent position of de-facto world currency (replaced by Renminbi perhaps?), there is nothing that can stop this.

  17. Scott Wheeler
    Big Brother

    Can anyone who is familiar with the standard comment on how DNSSEC will interact with using alternative DNS providers and non-US-based registries? It would seem to me that the registries are a soft target if they sign DNS records for black-listed domains or customers, since their own certificates can be repudiated.

  18. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    pot. kettle. black

    I find it rather amusing that a British author would point out "America's questionable approach to privacy issues."

    I'm not saying he's WRONG - quite the reverse, actually. I merely chuckle at the pot calling the kettle black.

    Anon because my flame-resistant knickers are in the wash.

    1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

      British my ASCII.

      I'm Canadian. Born and bred.

      1. Hollerith 1

        Wolfe the dauntless hero...

        Fly the maple leaf proudly, brother Canuck!

      2. Anonymous Coward
        Anonymous Coward

        "article on a British SITE" then.

        1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge
          Headmaster

          The Register has offices in the UK, the US, and Oz. They have writers from all around the English-speaking world. The "flavour" of the site is British, and the corporate headquarters is in London. But I am going to go out on a limb here and say that the site itself is more than just “British.”

          Normally, it is a distinction that doesn’t matter; but in the context of an article and discussion regarding the nationalisation of the Internet vis-à-vis SOPA/PIPA, I feel the distinction is important.

          The Register is the living example of a company that could face all sorts of troubles thanks to SOPA. This “British” website has offices in the US. It is subject to American law. If it closed those office tomorrow, a huge % of its reader base would still be American, its advertisers would be American, it would rely on American payment processors.

          The Register has a .co.uk domain, but also a .com one. What about Australia? Do they get a say in exerting their beliefs upon El Reg, and all similar companies? I’m Canadian, what laws to I need to be aware of when I am posting content created here on a British website?

          In the context of the above, I question the concept of “a British website” when you have offices and hacks spread hither and yon. The Register is a website. But like the internet, neat little categorisations defining nationality of cultural ownership have become quite fuzzy with time.

          And isn’t that what this whole thing is really about?

          1. Mark 65

            @Trevor

            No, this thing is really about the "leaders" of America and their desire to destroy themselves and their country in some act of digital Darwinism. I thank them for the internet and bid them farewell as they have become a digital wart upon the foreskin of humanity.

  19. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Like China, really.

    Detaining forever people without trial, big daddy watching and censoring the internet. Really, what's the difference between China and America these days?

    1. Drew V.
      Devil

      The difference is...

      one of the two is practicing a more successful form of capitalism.

      (Hint: it is not the one you'd think if you were to look at their flag and their name).

      Maybe this is a factor why they are becoming similar...because American business has figured out that less human rights and democracy equals more profit? (this is not my thesis, it's been propounded by more than a few academics).

  20. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Think about it......Its the lobbyist for the record and movie industry. What better way of dealing with them is not participating in purchasing there products and services!

    It should be like a weekend holiday every year where no one purchases any of there products and services as a reminder to the scum bags as to who butters there bread!

    Not just shutting down websites in protest, but cutting off there sales also!

    1. Evan Essence
      Headmaster

      Their, their.

      1. TheRealRoland

        I would of thought...

        That the message conveyed in these comments are more important that it's spelling and grammer.

        Their, their. Settle down. It will soon be over.

        ;-)

        Good comments / good read, though.

        1. PDC

          I would "have" thought.

          I would "have" thought.

          Tut, tut.

  21. packrat

    blacklist

    The zone 1 censorship model is getting in place. Like modded food rules

    (there are laws against gardening here in canada... apparently they can take your house for bottling dandelions these days)

    it's gonna get a whole lot worse before it gets any better. Like the broadcast treatym which allows the patenting/copyrighting of 'orphan' content on the web.

    like the European limitation laws, (almost a century on works public here)

    like patent meds getting forced out while patented meds get ( more unlimited) monopolies

    news, data sets, laws of physics (orbits), these are just a few of the things getting patented.

    and now censorship on a GRAND scale. (sopa. climate change terrorists, anyone? Animal activist are on that list already)

    I'd put the whole lot out to pasture, as fertilizer. (6 feet down), if i were you.

    packrat

  22. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Wasted energy

    Shutting down a site in protest is just wasted energy just like the occupy protests. It don't do a dmaned thing to improve the situation.

    1. Pseu Donyme

      "You say you want a revolution ... " ? :)

  23. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Is Big Tech not powerful enough

    to tell Big Media to suck its cock?

    1. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

      No.

      The government is in the way. Big Tech could buy Big Content 100 times over and still have money in the bank. But this would get the antitrust alarms going full bore, and nobody wants that.

      So the standoff remains as is. Big Content owns Congress. Until that can be remedied, Big Tech will always face massive antitrust scrutiny, especially if they attempt hostile takeovers.

      There are other forms of power than money. Never forget that Big Content controls our collective culture. Through that, they control public opinion. They also have decades of history as important backers of politicians from all parties. That simply doesn’t change over night.

      But here, now…we witness Big Tech making its play. We are watching as Big Tech says to the world “see? We can influence public opinion too! We have these eyeballs, they look at our websites. We too have influence that once was the sole province of Big Content.” Big Tech is flexing its muscles, and seeing just how much cultural imperialism they are actually capable of.

      Mark today. It is important. If Big Tech succeeds, then the oligopoly control of our culture will have definitively been broken, and our society will never be the same again. If they fail, it could be decades before anyone has the chutzpah to try again.

  24. This Side Up
    Thumb Up

    Wikipedia offline?

    Seems to be OK here (with NetSurf)

  25. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    In other news

    Popcorn sales in countries considered "Enemies of the US" have suddenly shot up.

  26. Anonymous Coward
    Anonymous Coward

    Dazed and cornfused

    It's amazing to see how many people have no clue about the internet, copyright laws and reality.

  27. Trevor_Pott Gold badge

    Ladies and gentlemen:

    Enjoy.

  28. WildWildWeb

    War for the Web

    As the SOPA protests unfold, it is important to remember that piracy and due process are only two of the issues facing the modern Internet. A lack of knowledge by users is the biggest problem. Come check out our documentary and support our investigation of how we can preserve our Internet rights.

    www.warfortheweb.com

  29. John Smith 19 Gold badge
    Big Brother

    Warning. According to the EU US & Israeli data protection rules are as strong as the rest of the EU

    Funny I'd not noticed anyone pass a law like the PATRIOT act *anywhere* in the EU or any reports of any EU country snaffling passports by the *dozen* to provide fake ID for a hit team on foreign soil.

    Albania?

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