SOPA

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Looks like they mean this. Open a wiki page and see.

This is called direct action. I wonder if any other big sites will follow suit. It should set up a general howl.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

I know Reddit is going to do this as well as some sports network.

Freeforums has a feature that makes this easy to do.

Minecraft forum-goers are proposing it but I don't know if the forums themselves will go down. They are virtually hands-off no rules.

EDIT: I thought the second post was a response to American Politics.

Liberalism is unique from the progressive movement. Liberalism is virtually a catch-all term that means anyone progressive enough to want liberty and at least a certain amount of equality in the economy and policy. The United States is comprised almost entirely of liberals except from some radicals. The United States is on the more conservative spectrum of politics and many Americans are Classic Liberals or moderately conservative (slightly more progressive than classic) liberals. Some politicians use "liberal" as a dirty word, which I find funny (ironic) because they are liberals themselves. Many progressive liberals are now calling themselves progressives because of the negative connotations liberal has acquired and because of its ambiguity.

  Edited January 17, 2012 by OcramSeattle  

[Larks2242 251]

Wikipedia is set to go dark in 4 hrs in response to SOPA.

[Easy Bakes 253]

Google is officially giving their support to the protests

[Meg 368]

Our position is:

- We are supporting the black out

- We are doing our small part to spread awareness

- This affects more than just Americans. (Simtropolis, for instance, is currently hosted in the US)

- We get 10-15k unique visitors daily, it's worth doing our small part.

12 hours of downtime will be inconvenient but we believe it is worthwhile to participate in the larger strike.

[eViLe_eAgLe 3]

I agree with this 100% from your fellow stalker of this site! I will come from the darkness for this strike, you have my support. *bows*

[Munchie 1]

This is my first time posting anywhere on this fantastic site.

Even though I am Canadian, SOPA is a potential threat world-wide (that good old "slippery slope")

I am behind your decision 10 MILLION PERCENT.

[Ocram's Razr 964]

I am glad that the administration was already planning this before I suggested it.

[Glenni 1,444]

I was surprised to see this happen on ST, but I fully support the act of blacking out in protest of this atrocitious bill!

[Cockatoo 2,256]

Nice one guys.

[jdenm8 362]

I give my full support to the admins with this, these acts need to die in a flaming pit.

[Sniper296 83]

I am supporting the blackout with my signature(on two popular sites) and blacking out my site(thanks CloudFlare for doing it for me).

[Meg 368]

Thank you for your support and your patience during the SOPA strike.

At last count, 3 of the co-sponsors have withdrawn their support. We hope this trend continues.

We are back now. We were busy during the dark hours, getting the Trixies set up.

Please continue as usual. and don't forget to nominate early, nominate often but don't nominate the same person twice.

Thanks again,

The admins

[Sniper296 83]

Simtropolis wins the most creative SOPA blackout award, most other sites were just copy-paste messages or JS overlays but not ST!

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

Welcome back, and well done indeed.

[Duke87 1,070]

You know you're doing something wrong when you write up a bill to fight piracy and a site which staunchly opposes piracy partakes in an act of protest against it.

Love the flashlight effect, by the way.

[simlink 1,098]

Simtropolis wins the most creative SOPA blackout award, most other sites were just copy-paste messages or JS overlays but not ST!

Indeed, it was the best and most creative one I saw today!

  Edited January 19, 2012 by sim_link  

[Sgt Pepper 864]

Great one guys!

Has anyone seen or signed Google's petition against this?

[Jazzmaster 716]

Great one guys!

Has anyone seen or signed Google's petition against this?

I'm afraid not, but I did sign at least a couple petitions against this way back in October of last year.

[Duke87 1,070]

Has anyone seen or signed Google's petition against this?

https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/

Signed it this morning.

Best Google Doodle ever, as well.

[Alejandro24 575]

The blackout take me at surprise! But finally, ST is here, everything for being listened ...

A photo:

[Jasoncw 11,841]

Liberalism is unique from the progressive movement. Liberalism is virtually a catch-all term that means anyone progressive enough to want liberty and at least a certain amount of equality in the economy and policy. The United States is comprised almost entirely of liberals except from some radicals. The United States is on the more conservative spectrum of politics and many Americans are Classic Liberals or moderately conservative (slightly more progressive than classic) liberals. Some politicians use "liberal" as a dirty word, which I find funny (ironic) because they are liberals themselves. Many progressive liberals are now calling themselves progressives because of the negative connotations liberal has acquired and because of its ambiguity.

Words mean different things in different contexts, and in this context (the general senses of the terms) conservative and liberal mean what most people understand them to mean.

[Dirktator 2,320]

PIPA support collapses with 13 new Senators opposed (ArsTechnica).

http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2012/01/pipa-support-collapses-with-13-new-opponents-in-senate.ars

[Zelgadis 638]

http://www.markfiore.com/political-cartoons/watch-internet-security-piracy-snuggly-sopa-pipa-animated-video-mark-fiore-political-animation

Relevant animation.

ISF

[Larks2242 251]

Getting closer and closer to the bill imploding!

[Terring 6,473]

Who can ensure us that this stuff is only against piracy? Who can ensure us that only the American government will start banning sites for nothing? A world-wide dictatorship is coming on. Will you accept it?

Oh by the way, in Greeks "sopa" (σώπα) means "shut up" (σκασμός)!

  Edited January 19, 2012 by terring  

[A Nonny Moose 8,261]

This nascent legislation took a swipe at world-wide communications freedom, but what about those bills already signed into law that restrict the freedom of Americans by legalizing detention without charge nor arraignment? (NDAA, Patriot Act).

[Easy Bakes 253]

And what do we do if it passes anyway?

[halicem 16]

Who can ensure us that this stuff is only against piracy? Who can ensure us that only the American government will start banning sites for nothing? A world-wide dictatorship is coming on. Will you accept it?

Oh by the way, in Greeks "sopa" (σώπα) means "shut up" (σκασμός)!

Monster cables is a sponsor of this bill.. You know, the makers of those overpriced cables. They've classified amazon, Craigslist and eBay as rogue sites. Presumably, because those sites offer reasonable alternatives to their overpriced crap. I'm fairly certain they didn't invent the cables but if they had their way, they'd like to see those sites taken out. Neat.

Likewise, cause of the loose language, ST is also affected. Make a building with a popular brand on it like say a fast food chain? The bill can be used to sue the site out. And it will be. As with any new law, the will be lawyers out there who will actively seek this out and approach these companies who didnt even initially care about it and change their minds. Not just brands too but could possibly also be used for building replicas. Say even if the architects of Rockefeller center is fine with it, but if another company has rights to make models of it, then it's not hard for that company to also pursue it. THEN what next? You can take photos of you next to buildings? Holding a coke can? If you do take pictires, it's ok as long as you don't share it? Is that it? Unless you're naked against a white screen, you can get sued?

That's some fairly loose language right there.

[emperordaniel 1,281]

Likewise, cause of the loose language, ST is also affected. Make a building with a popular brand on it like say a fast food chain? The bill can be used to sue the site out.

Electronic Arts can also sue us for using SimCity 4 screenshots in the first place. D:

If this bill passes, I predict SC4 will be mostly dead by the end of the year.