Hello Everyone!
Please Comment and Fave to show your support. Please feel free to ask questions as well.
Consider sharing with your watchers as well!
For those of you wondering what SOPA/PIPA are, take a look at this video fightforthefuture.org/pipa/
As a protest of #SOPA and #PIPA (The Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act) two pieces of legislation that are up for debate once again on January 18, 2012, I will be blacked out from all my websites, deviantART included. What does this mean?
"On January 18, between 8am and 8pm EST (or 13:00 and 01:00 UTC), Reddit will be blacking out their website in protest of SOPA and PROTECT IP. We request all website administrators worldwide - and especially those running large user-content websites - to black out their website at the same time, to voice their opposition of SOPA and PROTECT IP. This legislation may very well not only change the future of the internet as a whole, but also change the future of YOUR website. Act against it before it's too late."
This is not just administrators, this is EVERYONE. Take these 12 hours from 8 AM EST to 8 PM EST, and do not use any websites.
deviantART has already officially stated its dislike of #SOPA, saying: "Our view at deviantART regarding SOPA is that it's probably a bad idea. There should be better ways to deal with mass infringement on the Internet than this. This bill in our view can be seen as a threat to the open Internet itself and this is very hard to digest or support."
So... Join us. Black Everything Out. Share this message on Facebook, Twitter, and Every Other Site you have! You can share this quote or make your own: "This account will remain silent on #J18 January 18th, 8am-8pm (EST) as a protest against SOPA/PIPA."
January 18, 2012
DevNews will also stay silent on this day.
Edits serve as a way for me to continue to share additional information with you all.
EDIT: As this has been commented on multiple times. SOPA has NOT been killed. It has been SHELVED. This means it can be BROUGHT BACK AT ANY TIME. It is in NO WAY SHAPE OR FORM KILLED
As stated in a recent article, it has "been put on indefinite hold until a consensus about the act can be reached." (www.osnews.com/story/25513/SOP…)
EDIT 2: In addition, Wikipedia will be blacked out on January 18 as well. For a full list of websites going dark: nlb-creations.com/2012/01/13/w…
EDIT 3: A few new things I thought I would add based on comments. A number of people are asking why this is important. It is first off important to remember that one of the reasons I am sharing this on deviantART is dA is one of the websites that SOPA could seriously hurt. As is YouTube. Facebook. Wikipedia. Basically, you name it...
Then there is also the why the hell does logging in do anything? Well quite simply, it shows your support in stopping SOPA. One person does it, no one notices. But if millions upon millions do it, it is noticed both online by websites, as well as in Congress, and then worldwide. With websites like Wikipedia, who get 25 million hits a day, this is a pretty big deal.
EDIT 4: In regards to dA, let me state my utmost support for deviantART. I am in support of this largely because of its danger to deviantART and other websites that it will hurt.
EDIT 5: As a note... President Obama is against SOPA. It was started by Republican Lamar Smith of Texas.
EDIT 6: A list of websites that have signed up. In addition you can pledge your support there, though it is not mandatory. sopastrike.com/#how-to-strike
EDIT 7: deviantART is NOT blacking out. If YOU CHOOSE to black out, it is a personal choice. Perhaps deviantART will choose to at a later time, but for the moment, they aren't.
EDIT 8: There is a Black Out Journal created by gillianivyart Check it out live here: fav.me/d4mmqpo and install it here: fav.me/d4mmtut
EDIT 9: For those of you who tl;dr this, and still will post about how SOPA is dead.... Read this.
- Created by TheRyanFord and presented through hq
EDIT 10 (Last Edit): Last edit before my personal blackout. I just wanted to take a minute and say how amazing it is to see over 2,000 deviants being part of this every type of deviant as well... * = ` $ ^ It is really great! That said, I wanted to take a moment and add that I fully support deviantART's decision to not blackout the entire site and I urge you to do the same. I believe it is a personal choice here for deviants to make on their own not only for dA, but for Twitter, Facebook, etc. etc. deviantART has said they would raise discussions on SOPA and PIPA, and in my opinion that is far more valuable then 12 hours of darkness for deviants -which would cause confusion and chaos. I have already seen that this article has caused some confusion, so I would not want to see dA going black cause more confusion.SOPA and PIPA will suffer when tomorrow morning millions and millions of deviants, and users from every website blackout their online presence. So without further rambles... Stay safe. Stay Blacked-out. See you at 8 PM EST tomorrow.
