I'm not the most politically active member here on LoT but I have noticed that it's an election year. Which made me think. Where do the various candidates stand in regards to SOPA?

It looks like Ron Paul is a solid against. The others seem to be waffling, except for Obama who I would have to put in the Pro-SOPA category based on his being the president and not actively working to kill it.

With the next round of debates is coming up on the 7th. I would certainly like to see this issue raised. The debate is being hosted by the New Hampshire Institute of Politics and I have sent them an email requesting they ask the candidates for their stance on SOPA.

Contact info:

Contact Information:
Name: New Hampshire Institute of Politics
Phone: (603) 222-4100
Email: nhiop@anselm.edu

News from the SOPA front....

Reddit has announced they will be going dark on Jan 18th to protest SOPA.

What do you think of the idea?
How would you feel if Facebook or Google went black for a day? Meaning a visit to their site would only show a brief description SOPA and a link to contact your representatives.

Would you rally to fight SOPA or just be pissed off that you would not be able to check in with friends or search the internet for a day?

Honestly? I wouldn't care much (I've never been to reddit except as a search result that never produces anything remotely useful).

And while I would prefer SOPA not be passed I'm not super worked up about it. If passed it is about the sixth piece of legislation over the last 15 years that I've been informed will end the internet as we know it. And they either haven't or have been struck down in the courts.

I tend not to get apocalyptic about things and really not about bills in Congress before they reach conference committee. So if I get super upset about it I guess it will be post facto.

If Google, Reddit, Facebook, et al. want to go dark for some period to protest, then I salute their dedication. But I won't much be inconvenienced unless they convince all their competitors to go along with them. And if Google takes down any irreplaceable services (like Gmail) then that will do as much to emphasize how potentially malignant they are as any particular bill in congress.

Personally I'd like to see a black theme to the Google home page and a Google-doodle about SOPA. They get the message across but don't hinder anyone's searching.


Oh who am I kidding, that's crap. I want to see utter destruction. Google should De-list search results for every SOPA supporter, Facebook should close all their pages, and Amazon should stop selling all their products. That would be a correct and measured response to this particular legislation. Which is probably why I'm not allowed to run any of those companies.

Also, SOPA has changed fairly significantly already, but Google et al keep using the same arguments.

I'm still not 100% ok with SOPA as written, but it has changed, and is still changing.

If this passes, will it outlaw certain pastries?

I didn't stop the automatic renewal with Go Daddy so the political ire did not overcome my laziness. So if the Internet dies you can blame be as a contributer.

No... It just allows the government to seize your kitchen if someone accuses you of eating their pastries.

Rumor has it that the Daily Show will be talking about SOPA this evening when their guest for the evening is "The Internet".

If true, it should be an interesting show.

I just checked and Dolly Parton is listed as tonight's guest. There is something global about her