Second attempt to post this. Web-fourms seem to be designed to discourage well-reseached posts.
http://yro.slashdot.org/story/12/01/02/157217/net-companies-consider-the-nuclear-option-to-combat-sopaIn the growing battle for the future of the Web, some of the biggest sites online -- Google, Facebook, and other tech stalwarts -- are considering a coordinated blackout of their sites, some of the web’s most popular destinations.
No Google searches. No Facebook updates. No Tweets. No Amazon.com shopping. Nothing.
The action would be a dramatic response to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), a bill backed by the motion picture and recording industries that is intended to eliminate theft online once and for all. HR 3261 would require ISPs to block access to sites that infringe on copyrights -- but how exactly it does that has many up in arms. The creators of some of the web's biggest sites argue it could instead dramatically restrict law-abiding U.S. companies -- and reshape the web as we know it.
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http://www.foxnews.com/scitech/2011/12/30/will-google-amazon-and-facebook-blackout-net/Does anybody think that smaller sites should participate in an Internet black-out if the big players set a date? It may not happen, but there is less than a month left for planning. If smaller sites are going to participate, we should start making plans now.
An open question is how drastic should the black-out be? Should the site be replaced completely, or simply have an anti-SOPA banner/black colour theme? My own website already has a black background/white text style-sheet I can set to the default.
I an also not sure what people outside the United States should be encouraged to do. I don't feel it is may place to contact congress people directly. Should I contact my Member of Parliament instead? If enough MPs hear from their constituents, the government will know about it. If the President of the United States hears through diplomatic channels that people
worldwide are contacting their representatives about proposed
US legislation, he may be forced to do something about it (he does have veto power IIRC).