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The details of how a coordinated blackout would work are unclear, but Markham Erickson, the executive director of NetCoalition, says plans for the protest are already under way.

“Mozilla had a blackout day, and Wikipedia has talked about something similar,” Erickson told FoxNews. “A number of companies have had discussions about that.”

With the Senate set to debate SOPA legislation in January 2012, the blackout would be an unprecedented but potent move by Internet giants like Facebook and Amazon.

CNET called it “the nuclear option,” and said the effect would be far more wide-reaching than previous efforts like Tumblr’s American Censorship Day and yesterday’s Dump GoDaddy Day.

“When the home pages of Google.com, Amazon.com, Facebook.com, and their Internet allies simultaneously turn black with anti-censorship warnings that ask users to contact politicians about a vote in the U.S. Congress the next day on SOPA,” Declan McCullagh wrote, “you’ll know they’re finally serious.”

The Internet Bites Back

But if the polarizing law would be so devastating to the online community, then why haven’t these Internet giants done something like this before?

Actually, they have. On Nov. 15, Google, Facebook, Twitter, Zynga, eBay, Mozilla, Yahoo, AOL, and LinkedIn wrote a letter to Washington warning of SOPA’s dangers. “We are concerned that these measures pose a serious risk to our industry’s continued track record of innovation and job-creation, as well as to our Nation’s cybersecurity,” the letter said.

Google co-founder Sergey Brin personally denounced SOPA as dangerous, far too over-reaching, and largely ineffective in the areas it might to target.

“While I support their goal of reducing copyright infringement (which I don’t believe these acts would accomplish), I am shocked that our lawmakers would contemplate such measures that would put us on a par with the most oppressive nations in the world,” Brin wrote on Google+ earlier this month.

A coordinated blackout, however, is far more extreme than a letter, which is why these online powerhouses have held off so far.

“This type of thing [a mass protest] doesn’t happen because companies typically don’t want to put their users in that position,” Erickson explained.

“The difference is that these bills so fundamentally change the way the Internet works. People need to understand the effect this special-interest legislation will have on those who use the Internet.”

Support for SOPA

It is an understanding that has surpassed many companies, who argue that the SOPA legislation is necessary to combat the rampant spread of piracy, no matter what the cost.

Companies like 3M, Adidas, Burberry and CVS have come out in support of the controversial bill, as well as (briefly) GoDaddy. News Corp., the parent company of Fox and publications like The Post and Harper Collins Publishers, also supports SOPA.

“Rogue web sites that steal America’s innovative and creative products attract more than 53 visits a year,” the U.S. Chambers of Commerce wrote in a letter to the editor of The New York Times. “[These sites] threaten more than 19 million American jobs.”

‘People take the Internet very personally.’

But as the Senate vote grows closer, opposition to the SOPA legislation has been growing. And Erickson believes that as sites like Facebook, Google and Twitter begin to take a stand, that opposition will only grow.

“[This backlash] is just the top of the iceberg in terms of response,” Erickson said.

“People take the Internet very personally… It’s a very important part of their lives.”

Article Source: http://www.ibtimes.com/articles/274751/20111230/sopa-bill-protest-will-facebook-google-twitter.htm

Members of the Reddit community have launched a digital grassroots campaign against pro-SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) politicians.

Redditors began the campaign Wednesday with a post asking fellow Redditors for suggestions on a politician to target. The original poster, Reddit user “digitalboy,” was inspired by the social news site’s community effort to boycott GoDaddy over their support for SOPA.

[More from Mashable: GoDaddy CEO: ‘We’re Not Cynical Folks’]

The original mission statement was to find “one senator” who voted for SOPA or the NDAA (National Defense Authorization Act) and “destroy him.”

Digitalboy’s post left it up to responders to decide the target of Reddit’s wrath. In a few hours, the community decided on South Carolina Republican Senator Lindsey Graham. A “subreddit” named “Operation Graham Cracker” was opened by Reddit user “spez.” There, participants posted material showing Graham’s support for positions unpopular in the Reddit community, which favors free speech and an open Internet.

[More from Mashable: As Users Rail Against GoDaddy, Unpacking the SOPA Supporter List [VIDEO]]

Some Redditors expressed concern over the mission of the campaign. “Redblender” asked, “What’s the objective here? To stop SOPA/NDAA? Or to destroy someone?” The front page for the Operation Graham Cracker subreddit now states that the goal is to “show that legislation like SOPA and PIPA, as well as the indefinite detention sections of the NDAA are unacceptable, and that there is career blowback for supporting such legislation.”

According to the organizers, this will be achieved through the following methods:

• “Cause the electorate (voters of target district) to become completely disillusioned with the idea of voting for the candidate.”
• “Destabilize candidate’s office through legal, peaceful disturbance and investigation.”
• “Send a clear message to all of the body politic that the internet is a force for good that should be reckoned with.”

Even with this outline, the campaign’s target sparked fresh debates. Many Redditors, including “FM7-8,” expressed the desire for a non-partisan effort targeting pro-SOPA Democrats and Republicans alike. Soon after the “Graham Cracker” subreddit opened, the community realized that Senator Graham is not up for re-election in 2012. The Redditors decided they would change targets.

A dialogue opened to discuss and debate alternatives, and Redditors chose Wisconsin Republican Congressman Paul Ryan.

A new subreddit opened named “Operation Pull Ryan.” Redditor “joshawesome” registered pullryan.com. The subreddit has become a source for data about Ryan’s legislative record and contact information for his offices and social media accounts. Facebook and Twitter pages for Operation Pull Ryan have also been established. One Redditor, “Niehaus,” reached out to an opponent of Ryan to get his stance on SOPA, and a screenshot of the response was posted in the subreddit.

Redditors are currently debating the most effective ways to have an impact on Ryan’s next election, being held Nov. 6, 2012.

Will the Reddit community’s methods be an effective way to influence next year’s elections? Let us know what you think in the comments below.

Image courtesy of iStockphoto, sjlocke

This story originally published on Mashable here.

There has been much talk about the 2 internet privacy bills, SOPA and PIPA, that are up to be passed and made laws. There 2 bills will forever change the internet and not for the good as many officials would like for you to think.

There is plenty of knowledge out there about it and many ways to fight it. I’ve listed some petition sites below where you can FIGHT SOPA.

In a recent statement, GoDaddy commented on their views about the SOPA act after this huge move by opposers of the SOPA act:

Fighting online piracy is of the utmost importance, which is why Go Daddy has been working to help craft revisions to this legislation — but we can clearly do better. It’s very important that all Internet stakeholders work together on this. Getting it right is worth the wait. Go Daddy will support it when and if the Internet community supports it.

Despite a massive Twitter campaign and a blog post that claims “Go Daddy no longer supports SOPA legislation” the company and their CEO have dodged questions about opposing the bill. In essence, they are taking a lesser role by not showing support for the bill. They have not opposed it.

This week, they lost around 72,000 domain registrations. At a yearly discounted rate of $6.99 (most registrations are higher), that’s over half a million dollars per year. It is apparently not enough for them to speak out against the bill.

How many domains is the company willing to lose before they oppose this abomination of legislation? Do they believe that when they “step back and let others take leadership roles” that we are going to see it as something other than a “duck and cover” public relations move to try to get out of the spotlight and hope someone else takes the brunt of the attacks while they quietly support the bill?

Is 72,354 domains enough? Not even close. It’s a drop in the bucket. They have anywhere from 15,000 to 40,000 domains added daily. Despite cries from the internet, yesterday was a good day with over 32,000 added. Go Daddy has not felt much pain yet. The “PR nightmare” that many of us in the tech industry perceive is happening to them hasn’t hit their pocketbooks in any real form, yet.

Until the effect is more pronounced, they can afford to deflect questions and let the negative PR pass. More must be done.

What Really Gets Me About This SOPA Act

The internet is not some business that needs to be bailed out. It’s an world wide networking system not owned by anyone or any entity. For the government to come in and say they need to control it is completely out of line.

They then add the piracy part in there to justify it saying online piracy is getting out of control and something needs to be done. What’s not being said about SOPA is how it will block access to certain sites that practice freedom of speech. All my sites practice this, so one day, will my sites be blocked from public view?

I’m opposed to SOPA and PIPA  because it goes against everything the internet was built on. Freedom.

They’re already watching our every move on cameras, making us strip down at airports, throwing us in jail for speaking out and labeling good standing Americans as terrorists. Now they want to control the internet. Don’t you think they control enough?

What do you think? I suggest you make the switch too so we can make this internet giant realize that WE THE PEOPLE possess the power to bring about change.

Shout out to VizFact News for telling me about this breaking news.