SOPA Blackout Tomorrow

The SOPA Blackout is tomorrow, and Web Pro News has a list. Also Google is notify users about the bill.

There really has never been anything like this before, so I'm curious to see the results. In fact I'm hopeful that people will pay attention to the alerts.

However a few more things come to mind:

  • This could well end in a big showdown. Google seems to be target one among pro-SOPA/PIPA forces and now Google is more aggressive – and this is NOT the most Google could do (think for a moment what they could do that's far more aggressive). It think it's possible the pro-SOPA/PIPA forces may rally further if this gets results.
  • If there is a Stupid Backlash in the form of new internet regulations and proposals in the bills it may, ironically, drag in Net Neutrality issues. "Google used it's access for political power"," will come in one form or another from people missing the irony.
  • This represents a shift in political awareness, and the use of large information resources for political protest by those running them. As I've noted before some businesses rely on freedom – this makes the implicit explicit. This will affect people's political awareness..
  • I think even without the protest, SOPA and eventually PIPA are dead, destined to return in several pieces or a watered-down version. This blackout gives me the gut feeling it's about burying them and asserting power and awareness.
  • This will happen again. The blackout will give people IDEAS.
  • We're seeing a somewhat unified movement of people interested in internet freedom, who are spreading the world (and are backed by their coprorate/organizational positions). This could blossom into more (say, a political party, lobbying group, etc.)

Steven Savage