While not participating in the Blackouts, there are a good number of folks who are. Also, as someone who makes his living on the web and supporting web / cloud related technologies, I figure raising awareness can only be a good thing. Some quick background on what these are and why they’re important to you, as an internet user:
From Google:
Two bills before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business. Millions of Internet users and entrepreneurs already oppose SOPA and PIPA.
The Senate will begin voting on January 24th. Please let them know how you feel. Sign this petition urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late.
So without further adieu, here are some sites that well, have more info:
- Wikipedia – http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative/Learn_more
- Google – https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/
- Reddit – http://www.reddit.com/help/faqs/sopa
- The Oatmeal – http://theoatmeal.com/ (All about the SOPA/PIPA during the blackout)
- Rackspace – http://www.rackspace.com/blog/?p=2741
- vCommunity Trust – http://www.vcommunitytrust.org/
I personally will not be blacking out, what with this evenings BrownBag, take some time today to go forth, read up, and contact your representatives.