The more serious (as in: with financial ramifications) push-back may finally be starting to kick in. This bit from OSNews.

Paul Graham, YCombinator founder and investor, banned employees who work for a company on the official list of SOPA supporters from attending the YC Demo Day. "Several of those companies [on the list] send people to Demo Day, and when I saw the list I thought: we should stop inviting them. So yes, we'll remove anyone from those companies from the Demo Day invite list," he stated.

"If these companies are so clueless about technology that they think SOPA is a good idea, how could they be good investors?" he quipped.

Can't wait to see the insane pro-SOPA comments bound to follow in the wake of that announcement.

Yeah... I suppose that was the lazy part in me not wanting to deal with moving domains and redoing DNS and all that crap... sigh... 

Cripes... This is going to take forever...

Cripes... This is going to take forever...

It might not actually be that bad. When I transfered the company domain name from Network Solutions over to Hover.com they gave temporary access to the domain name control panel so I could preconfigure the DNS info while the transfer was being finalized. So the switchover was completely seamless.

Hover is owned by TuCows btw. 

The thing that people often forget, is that corporations are not entities.  They are made up of people, and the larger the corporation, the more stratified the people are.  Maybe there is a disconnect in management, but there so often is.  There probably wasn't at the lower levels (and perhaps even at the higher levels- the people who couldn't convince the policy makers not to do this).  And perhaps those same people, in the face of the internet screaming, used that as leverage to get things done.  Perhaps the outcry by itself did nothing.  We don't know.

But what we do know is that those people are still employed there, and boycotting after a reversal will hurt them, and make the case less clear cut for people trying to work from the inside in the future.

The thing is, is there a history of negative actions.  Not that I've seen... and that history would bear out the boil them in oil attitude.  Not one incident.  At least IMO.

Grrr... 

Now I'm conflicted again...

Pulling out says that there is no forgiveness... But, it also says to other companies that they had better not go down that path to start with...

Sigh...

Quote from: wraith808 on December 24, 2011, 04:16 PM

But what we do know is that those people are still employed there, and boycotting after a reversal will hurt them, and make the case less clear cut for people trying to work from the inside in the future.

I'm sure there are many good (albeit horrible misguided...) people that work for the RIAA, but that's not an excuse to cut-them-a-break. The SOPA is an incredible dangerous piece of legislation that requires a crystal clear message. We The People, will not tolerate the further weakening (and destruction) of the Constitution.

A bad idea is just that. A bad idea. And the SOPA is a bad idea. Any mercy shown will only give rise to the perception that maybe it just needs a better spin, or a more subtle pitch/insertion. The corporations need to be fearful of the people ... Not the other way around, which is where it's headed. An example must be made.

Dammit... You just make too much sense...

In light of recent legislation that has turned the US into a police state (NDAA 2012), I think that you're right. A message needs to be sent. "You can't walk down the path of evil and hope to get away with it, and when you don't, fake some crocodile tears. You need to behave ethically to start with."

Incidentally, I just posted on the topic of right/wrong here. It's remotely related to this discussion in a very abstract way.

@SJ - Bwahahahahahaha~!

You know that you're sending mixed signals now, eh?

The SOPA is an incredible dangerous piece of legislation that requires a crystal clear message. We The People, will not tolerate the further weakening (and destruction) of the Constitution.

So then make the point where it should be made.  Anyone that even thought about voting for this shouldn't be in office come their next term.  But the voting is so dissociated from the actions of the politicians, that I doubt even the most frothing at the mouth anti-SOPA voter will even think about it come next election.  Because other things matter more.  Like... frothing at the mouth over party divisions.  Or something.  I'm not sure what... but there's something!

Quote from: Renegade on December 24, 2011, 05:08 PM

You know that you're sending mixed signals now, eh?

That was a calculated risk, but I thought the joke fit rather nicely. Moral being that some things just cannot be overlooked regardless of previous good behavior.

I think that with the quick reversal, and the prior history of good behaviour, this isn't one of those things.  If they dragged their feet in the mud and had to be pulled screaming, then I'd say so.  But not in this case.  The RIAA - yeah, I can see that.  The MPAA - yeah, I can see that too.  But this...?

I won't be pulling out at this time.  They've gone out of their way to help me at times, and not just to correct the problem, but to help me understand.  But that's just my opinion and my experience.  Let each person's wallet speak for them.

I think that with the quick reversal, and the prior history of good behaviour, this isn't one of those things.  If they dragged their feet in the mud and had to be pulled screaming, then I'd say so.  But not in this case.  The RIAA - yeah, I can see that.  The MPAA - yeah, I can see that too.  But this...?

I'm not so sure. The quick reversal bothers me. It feels like the New Hotness way of doing things. "Let's announce a position! Ooh, we're getting boycotted! Okay, let's announce the opposite position!"

Trouble is, it's far from clear that the *second (and good)* position will stick any better!

In my opinion, we're seeing a new breed of politics. "Announce something, and if the public is too exhausted to shout loud enough, do it. If they do shout loudly then:  reverse it, wait until it becomes Old News, then slide a weaker form of it in later."

Heh Thanks Joker!

And now for something a little different.

(To the tune of Lola, but borrowing some inspiration from Weird Al)

A bill was introduced in the House the other day,
Where they wheel & deal over Scotch & Soda, S-o-d-a Soda,
I found a congressman looking at a strange new bill
I asked him it's name and in a Wheezing Voice the Rep' said it's
SOPA - SO-SO-SO-SOPA...

The geeks are laughing a bit saying it's never been done,
A bill that breaks the net for every corporation,
oh yes it's SOPA - SO SO SO SOPA

Well I'm not dumb but I can't understand how they can
pull down any website they please and label it Banned,
SO-SO-SO-SOPA.

Here is good news for india as per CNN IBN... after 6th Feb Supreme Court ordered indian ISP's and social networks to censor following type of content - nsfw, non-religious content, content that makes fun of religion, content that makes fun of politicians and any other protest worthy content. Total 31 social network from around the world got this order from court. Good bye freedom. Welcome medieval age, lets respect idiots. 

Hold on... Am I reading you right:

nsfw -- self explanatory
>>
non-religious content -- Anything that isn't religious???? This doesn't make any sense. Not even remotely. The entire Indian Internet must be religious?
>>
content that makes fun of religion -- Self explanatory
content that makes fun of politicians and any other protest worthy content -- self explanatory

A Delhi Court on Saturday ordered 22 social networking sites, including Facebook, Google, Yahoo and Microsoft, to remove all "anti-religious" or "anti-social" contents in the next one-and-a-half-month and file compliance reports by February 6, 2012.

A Google spokesperson told HT: "We comply with valid court orders wherever possible, consistent with our long standing policy. We're yet to receive the details of this order and can't comment on this specific case."

http://www.hindustantimes.com/News-Feed/socialmedia-updates/Delete-anti-religious-posts-Court-to-networking-sites/Article1-786483.aspx

If CNN-IBN (I'd be surprised, they're a responsible channel AFAIK) is reporting the rest of it, they're jumping the gun.

The court's order is against an obscene depiction of prophets and other forms of blasphemy, which the politicians fear will cause riots.
The last time we has major (country-wide) riots break out was when the leading opposition party led a pseudo-army to a mosque and demolished it. The government watched this happen. Of course, there's no telling how the Twitter/Facebook crowd (a fringe of the population, the so called "educated elite") may react if they see their favorite religious figure being bashed on FB, they just might burn this little country down.

The worrying aspect for me is that the judge used the term "anti-social", it could potentially be used for political censorship in the future.

BTW, the minister who sparked off this controversy has also tried to up the anti-piracy law. His son, also a lawyer, co-incidentally represents a leading company in the music industry.
http://www.telegraphindia.com/1111221/jsp/nation/story_14908906.jsp

If CNN-IBN (I'd be surprised, they're a responsible channel AFAIK) is reporting the rest of it, they're jumping the gun.

I don't think there is anything left not to conclude. DOT this year made many changes that are are already in implementation e.g. almost every hollywood movie channel is moderated before broadcast. Watching movie like SAW or hostel is like watching teaser softcore porn in dark with absence of actors. Wait till they block youporn or any other porn site to prove the rest.

Of course, there's no telling how the Twitter/Facebook crowd (a fringe of the population, the so called "educated elite") may react if they see their favorite religious figure being bashed on FB, they just might burn this little country down.

I'm sure you're aware of Miraj Riot(2009) during ganesh festival? It wasn't that big and there was no chance for burning the country. I'm sure even religious folks here will not think social network add more fuel to this.

The worrying aspect for me is that the judge used the term "anti-social", it could potentially be used for political censorship in the future.

Yup. That's to stop protest from groups led by anna hazare, medha patkar and roy. This is basically a mix of political+entertainment+religious censorship. Mediafire was blocked by reliance last week and they do plan to take down torrent sharing too in next few months. So linux users are going to suffer in this mess.

I'm still pulling my 15 or so domains from Godaddy. I've always felt like they were kind of a scummy company and don't really like the way they do and have done business. The SOPA fiasco is just the straw breaking the camel's back for me, and I honestly don't trust that their quick change of public stance carries any actual weight internally, nor do I trust them not to support SOPA in other ways "behind the scenes" if it serves their interests. I mostly just like their prices and (some parts of) their control panel(s).

Looks like I'll be jumping over to Dynadot or Idotz. With ~15 domains, price is a factor. $5 more/yr/domain means $75 more/yr for me, which I can't really justify at this point. So Gandi.net and the many other suggested options that charge $15/yr or more for .com, etc. are not options for me, unfortunately.

- Oshyan