Apologies to those readers inconvenienced when I failed to take down my blackout screen last night. I’d intended to do it at midnight (MT), but forgot. Midnight is not my brightest hour.
I can’t remember the last time I was so excited about being a part of something big — really big — and important. I jumped (“browsed” being far too casual a word) around the Internet all day ooh-ing and ahh-ing over what different sites were doing for the blackout, and Wikipedia topped everyone, as they should have. Despite how annoying their recent fund request banners had become, yesterday I sought out their donation page and sent them a tiny, tangible, deeply heartfelt Thank You.
Wired Magazine really drove home the censorship theme with black strips over all their stories, rather like WordPress’s Freshly Pressed page, but with Wired, a mouseover revealed the story, and there was a button to reveal the entire page. A creative solution for a website that depends on advertising support, steady readership, and timely news.
And as I’ve previously mentioned, I really loved Cheezeburger’s video “The Day the LOLcats Died.”
The major media finally, reluctantly, had to acknowledge that something was happening and began reporting the story. That alone was a major victory, since previously there had been virtually no mention of SOPA/PIPA. The news media are, after all, generally owned by the entertainment giants who support the legislation.
There’s a nice gallery of blackout pages at The Inspiration Room. I hadn’t thought to save screenshots, but I’m glad a lot of other people did. Historians will want those images, because history will — or should — remember the day. The Internet has played a big role in uprisings around the world, and yesterday we reminded Washington how important it is in a peaceful America.
Washington support for SOPA/PIPA was weakening yesterday, but the Senate is still scheduled to vote on PIPA next Tuesday, January 24. We must not back down until Harry Reid backs down. Keep calling and writing your senators, express your concern, and tell them to vote “NO” on PIPA.
Yay! You’re back up! I kept clicking on your Cat LOL email link and going to your black out, so I must have resaved your email as new half a dozen times.
I took many screen shots… but missed Wired. How could I missed going to that site??? idgit!
How nice to hear I was missed! Amazingly, despite being blacked out, Pied Type got a huge (for me, anyway) number of hits yesterday, second only to the day before and my two biggest days ever.
I’d hoped maybe that LOLcats link would show in your email and you could reach it without coming to the blog. Didn’t mean to be a tease.
My SOPA stuff was hit like crazy! LOL.. and the one about the snow-boarding crow. I well over tripled in hits – especially the SOPA for Dummies post.
I immediately sent the crow video link to a friend of mine who is crazy for birds. She might have been one of your hits.
Good to have you back, and thanks for doing what you are doing. It’s scary how an idea like this can get this far.
Thanks. Yes, it’s scary what money can buy in this country.
Have you seen the list of companies that do support SOPA/PIPA? It’s huge! I’m a little miffed because my internet company which well is the only one here so I have no other choice in the matter supports it. Then of course there’s Nike, that just pisses me off. I dunno, after Megaload went down yesterday and after watching the debate last night; this country is pretty much up shits creek. Can you tell I’m in a negative mood from politics?
I will say though that I am absolutely proud of what occurred; how so many of us are standing up to this and saying this isn’t how it needs to be.
Yes, I saw the list weeks ago and it may have grown in response to all the public protest. I knew from the beginning it would be an uphill battle against them, but I (we) couldn’t not try. It’s just not right for money and influence alone to dictate the law in this country.
I’m writing an essay about SOPA and PIPA. I went looking for blackout images, and found the awesome wikiapedia one. It is amazing to be part of something so big and huge. We made history January 18th. Even if those 7000 sites die tomorrow, or the 160 million people who saw the banner, never do anything about SOPA, we made history.
It’s awesome. 🙂
Yes we did. I’m getting goosebumps now just thinking about it. If that essay is for school, I hope you get an A+.