Stop Online Piracy Act

[MikeandRaph87]

Originally Posted by Master Splinter

I would like to suggest that The Technodrome and all other fan sites go dark on January 18th, 2012 from 8a.m. to 8p.m. est in a coordinated effort to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect-IP Act (PIPA). I recommend that instead of serving up the normal websites we go dark and instead provide information on SOPA and PIPA and the harm they will cause for the internet not only in the United States but across the globe. If anyone would like any information on what they can do to help or how they can participate in the blackout day on January 18th please let me know and I would be happy to help in anyway.

Do not think for one second this will not affect you, Viacom is a supporter of these two bills, if they pass Viacom will have the power to effectively shut down ANY Ninja Turtle site they feel violates their copyright, this can and most likely will include TheTechnodrome.com, NinjaPizza.net, GoGreenMachine.org, MutantOoze.org, TMNT-NinjaTurtles.com, terrible2z.com, and many, many, more TMNT blogs, tumblrs, and fan made websites.

-ms

Contact Krang about it. Of course I cannot speak for each 'Dromer,but I think a majority would happily go along with the idea and it should be done to see if it will effect the outcome. Thanks for keeping us informed about this,Splinter.

[Andrew NDB]

I dunno... as noble of a gesture as it'd be, I'm having trouble imagining Viacom executives, lawyers (on either side of the argument), or senators, or judges, or really anyone with any decision making power in all of this surfing the internet and going, "Oh noes... there's a lot of fan-sites down today. I was going to endorse the bill but, well now, this very well changes everything!"

If anything, you'd think they'd be like, "Oh good, the fansites are taking a day to rehearse the big shutdown they've got waiting for them when this passes. Good for them."

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

I dunno... as noble of a gesture as it'd be, I'm having trouble imagining Viacom executives, lawyers (on either side of the argument), or senators, or judges, or really anyone with any decision making power in all of this surfing the internet and going, "Oh noes... there's a lot of fan-sites down today. I was going to endorse the bill but, well now, this very well changes everything!"

If anything, you'd think they'd be like, "Oh good, the fansites are taking a day to rehearse the big shutdown they've got waiting for them when this passes. Good for them."

Heh, that's about my thinking. Does anyone know of a time in which an internet boycott actually changed anything in the real world?

[Master Splinter]

Originally Posted by Andrew NDB

I dunno... as noble of a gesture as it'd be, I'm having trouble imagining Viacom executives, lawyers (on either side of the argument), or senators, or judges, or really anyone with any decision making power in all of this surfing the internet and going, "Oh noes... there's a lot of fan-sites down today. I was going to endorse the bill but, well now, this very well changes everything!"

If anything, you'd think they'd be like, "Oh good, the fansites are taking a day to rehearse the big shutdown they've got waiting for them when this passes. Good for them."

The protest would not be for Viacom to notice us, it is for regular users who do not know the effects of SOPA/PIPA and doing the blackout would give them a taste of what is to come if they do not stand up and fight for their right to a internet without censorship.

Originally Posted by oldmanwinters

Heh, that's about my thinking. Does anyone know of a time in which an internet boycott actually changed anything in the real world?

Just a few weeks ago a boycott of GoDaddy resulted in over 82,000 websites being transferred from GoDaddy to other registers who do not support SOPA. Including big names like Wikipedia and the Cheezburger network. GoDaddy has since changed their stance on SOPA but the damage has already been done.

I just want people to understand that you can either sit on your hands and let this pass and then hate what the government has done or you can do something about it and prevent it from happening. The choice is yours. I know where I stand.

-ms

[Wingnut]

I'll be participating.

Seriously though, the US government has been quite accomplished in censorship, propaganda, and detention of US citizens (Japanese-Americans WW2 anyone?) for a LONG time. The fact that we live in the instant information age just puts some of it out in the open, then we get armchair politicians and activists. Go ask a Native American how honest and fair we are. Yeah that's what I thought.

If 80% of the country coulda smelled the sh*t on their knees about 30 years ago, we could've avoided this defining choke point in American history. The 9/11 era has sped up the process, but the plan of corporations and the private sector (the 1%) to completely rip the country from the masses has been in motion for, as mentioned before, the better part of 30 years.


This country, as a whole, sh*t the bed. Now we're lying in it.

[oldmanwinters]

Originally Posted by Master Splinter

Just a few weeks ago a boycott of GoDaddy resulted in over 82,000 websites being transferred from GoDaddy to other registers who do not support SOPA. Including big names like Wikipedia and the Cheezburger network. GoDaddy has since changed their stance on SOPA but the damage has already been done.

I just want people to understand that you can either sit on your hands and let this pass and then hate what the government has done or you can do something about it and prevent it from happening. The choice is yours. I know where I stand.

-ms

Well... whaddya know! I am proud to stand corrected.

Still... I don't think a Technodrome Forums black-out would be of any significance. It's gotta be something on a bigger scale to really hit the companies where it hurts.

[Jester]

But you see, Splinter, that's a totally different style of protest. Those boycotting godaddy.com are "voting with their wallets" so to speak. godaddy is gonna feel the pinch and rethink their strategy and wither or not they will still support these bills. 5 or 6 TMNT fan sites going black won't cause anyone financial hardship, especially Viacom. Now if on the same day, people didn't frequent Viacom's many site or watch their many TV networks...that might...MIGHT... make them take some notice.

[Master Splinter]

Originally Posted by Jester

But you see, Splinter, that's a totally different style of protest. Those boycotting godaddy.com are "voting with their wallets" so to speak. godaddy is gonna feel the pinch and rethink their strategy and wither or not they will still support these bills. 5 or 6 TMNT fan sites going black won't cause anyone financial hardship, especially Viacom. Now if on the same day, people didn't frequent Viacom's many site or watch their many TV networks...that might...MIGHT... make them take some notice.

I agree the godaddy boycott was a protest with their wallets. But it was organized on the internet, which is an example Oldman asked for. I've said it once already, doing a blackout is not a protest against the companies, I know it will not affect them at all, the point of the black out is to inform the users of the internet of what the internet will be like if SOPA/PIPA passes. It is an informational protest. A good majority of Americans do not even know what SOPA/PIPA is and I would like to believe if they did they would not stand for it. Again it's not about protesting the companies, it is about showing what the internet will look like if your favorite websites went down because of these bills.

The Technodrome doesn't have to go completely down, maybe changing the top banner to a #stopsopa banner with a link to information about the bill or something...

A quick example of how this could affect the technodrome, this thead has links to scans of manuals from Nintendo, etc.. Most (not all) of the video game companies are pro-sopa, hypothetically if SOPA/PIPA passed and made into law they could legally have this site shut down because of those infringing links, and the OP would receive jail time for violating copyright. And that is only the beginning, you upload a video to youtube of your kid running around your house and the t.v. is on in the living room and The Simpsons is on, you could get fined and or jailed for that. Fox wanted $10,000 for 4.5 seconds of The Simpsons shown in the background on a t.v. during a documentary. Do you think they won't want money from you if they could have legal recourse to get it from you?

-ms

[Krang]

I'm also against SOPA/PIPA, and I'd like to do what I can to help prevent it from passing, but I don't think a blackout would be the right approach for us. As others have mentioned, we're not a big enough site to make any difference by doing that.

Originally Posted by Master Splinter

The Technodrome doesn't have to go completely down, maybe changing the top banner to a #stopsopa banner with a link to information about the bill or something...

This is something that we could definitely do, though.

[BubblyShell22]

TMNT-L has a banner on the top of their site about stopping SOPA. Maybe that would help. I think a total blackout wouldn't do any good, and that people who may not understand why may think that said sites are having difficulties rather than it being a protest. I understand what your intentions, are, MS, but I highly doubt it'll really do anything. I'm against this, too, but honestly, there are people who aren't going to care what we think. That's how politics works. They're only in it for themselves, and they don't care how it affects people like us. It's sad but true.

[Master Splinter]

I can understand why you wouldn't want to blackout the entire site. I made this banner, let me know what y'all think, I can change it if needed. If anyone can come up with one too post it.



Here are some other links with some tools others can use on their sites if they wish to participate.

Tumblr and Website censorship code
http://fffff.at/stop-sopa-blackout/

WordPress SOPA Blackout Plugin
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/sopa-blackout/

WordPress STOP SOPA Ribbon Plugin
http://wordpress.org/extend/plugins/stop-sopa-ribbon/

Google Chrome SOPA Supporter Extension
https://chrome.google.com/webstore/d...jccpjjnhgcmpnd

Twitter Blackout Profile Image
http://www.blackoutsopa.org/

Additional Links

http://defendtheinter.net/

http://censoredbysopa.com/

http://americancensorship.org

http://keepthewebopen.com

http://fightforthefuture.org

http://demandprogress.org

http://stopcensorship.org/

http://publicknowledge.org/e-parasit...ine-piracy-act

http://projects.propublica.org/sopa/

Also, here is a list of those in congress that are for or against the bills. Find your rep and senators and contact them and let them know you do not support these bills.

http://sopaopera.org/

-ms

[gobo]

Just curious, but are you trying to get all fansites involved in this, like you breifly mentioned a while back? It would have a better chance of educating people about the bill if they saw it everywhere. Like a web-nerd recruitment day. A dinky, little banner is too easy to overlook. And, I appreciate your message, saying "blackout" sites to show that this could be the future for fan-communities in general if the bill is passed.

[MikeandRaph87]

I guess it will be up to the individual. We can ask Rose and Vaugh and others that have their own sites. Also, anyone that is friends with non-TMNT related sites that someone runs. We may only be reaching out to a few thousand people yet its better than only a handful that may look at this particular thread. If all goes our way it won't pass anyway. Yet to do that I would also suggest that each person agrees to write to thier respective congressman or congresswoman and ask them to vote against it. Every little measure helps.

[KROW]

Here's something to quell your fears.

[John Pannozzi]

Please watch this video and help spread the word about the truth regarding SOPA:

[gobo]

Excellent find, John. This needs to be stickied ASAP.

P.S. - Should anyone need this video for editing or redistributing purposes, let me know.

[Master Splinter]

It appears that the house has shelved SOPA (for now).

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/pol...helf034765.php

Let's hope PIPA finds it way out very soon as well. This is very good news for the internet. I still think on January 18th we should put up a banner in support of internet freedom and opposition to PIPA which is still in the Senate.

-ms

[Redeemer]

I think the government has more pressing concerns than people pirating. such as this economy.

[Falconhood]

Our kids can't read or multiply. Our kids are getting knocked-up while they are still kids. Unemployment is at an all time high.
But, let's pass a bill that helps the wealthy stay in power.

[BubblyShell22]

Well, at least it's been shelved for now. That's a good sign. I think the government should worry about bigger issues. And even if PIPA still passes, there are still going to be people pirating stuff. It's just like how they want to ban gun rights. They can do that all they want, but it's not going to do any good because people are still going to get ahold of guns underground anyway. What do they think they're going to accomplish with any of it? If you take away the guns, terrorists will just take advantage of us. If you try to stop pirating, it's just going to keep happening.