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Why Google, Facebook, Twitter and Others May Join Forces to ‘Nuke’ the Internet

Jan 5, 2012  •  Post A Comment

Trouble is brewing on the Internet, where Wikipedia has signaled what might be coming with a series of warnings about the pending Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA.

Now it appears that Wikipedia, which has threatened to shut itself down in a protest against the legislation, may be just the tip of the iceberg. MSNBC reports: “Google, Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, Zynga … and … Etsy, along with other Internet-based companies [may] take a ‘nuclear option’ and ‘go simultaneously dark’ in protest of the bill, and to ‘highlight the fundamental danger the legislation poses to the function of the Internet.’”

The story cites a piece by ExtremeTech, which reports: “There’s been no formal decision on the matter, and the companies in question obviously risk consumer anger and backlash over any suspension of services. There is, however, safety in numbers — and a few simple sentences identifying why the blackout is in place will ensure that the majority of the rage flows in the proper direction.”

The House Judiciary Committee is set to tackle SOPA later in January. The legislation would make the streaming of unauthorized content a felony.

MSNBC also cites a warning from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, which says the bill’s "vague language would create devastating new tools for silencing legitimate speech all around the Web." Free speech and digital rights activists have joined in the fight along with a number of major Internet-based companies.

The MSNBC piece reports: “Protests against SOPA went mainstream in December when members of the Reddit community organized a protest against Web-hosting giant Go Daddy for its initial SOPA support. More than 37,000 domains were transferred as part of the "Dump Go Daddy" protest, leading the company to make a solid statement opposing SOPA.”

9 Comments

  1. Wow!!! So all of those people who are pissing away their time online might actually have to work while sitting at their desks.

  2. You mean like you just did while reading the story? Crap… I just did it too.

  3. I can’t believe you would post such a silly comment about an issue as important as this. Obviously you piss away a lot of your time online already. That might explain your lack of concern on this subject.

  4. Yet somehow I remember a time when none of those services existed on the Internet, yet life went on…

  5. LOL! I just want to “like” all the comments above mine. 😀
    I’m sure I’ll survive if the internet goes dark… just took a 10 month break from Facebook with no ill effects.

  6. LOL! I just want to “like” all the comments above mine. 😀
    I’m sure I’ll survive if the internet goes dark… just took a 10 month break from Facebook with no ill effects.

  7. What scares me is this gives the federal government the right to make more felons. In stead of misdemeanors and heavy fines for these illegal activities. Which is what sentence should be imposed. They really are just trying again to strip Americans gun rights away. Felons cant have guns. Even the ones that stream free music. Scary

  8. Mike –
    You think this has to do with guns?? Not a chance. This is about money, and corporations wanting to monetize their intellectual property without taking the interests of their customers (or the artistic creators) into account.
    It ain’t guns, it’s greed.

  9. I do agree with you about the greed. i just have to express that the felonies that will be giving out like candy will strip gun ownership. Which is the only effective means a man can have to defend his life, family, and property when real threats come knocking on the door. so the greed of the federal government to shut down eBay, Craigslist, etc seems unacceptable. take the felonies off and i might be able to deal with just mobster politicians doing what they do best. help the man with the biggest check book.

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