Rubenerd

Leaving aside the issue that SOPA is a smokescreen, I’ll admit, I’m conflicted. On the one hand, SOPA is a serious concern for the future of the Internet in the United States with potential global repercussions, but I’m skeptical these blackouts will accomplish anything.

Legislators have been bought and paid for already, and the fact your Twitter avatar is black or your news aggregation site doesn’t have any content on it won’t sway them. That’s not to say the media and politicians won’t jump on this as a reason they’re proud to dump SOPA while they enact PIPA, ICANNs compulsory verified registration process, and other legislation you’ll be hearing about in coming months. Watch out for them.

In the meantime, instead of glorifying companies, websites and Twibbon-wearers for blacking their sites for a day, why not celebrate and support those who are actually helping to make a real difference on a daily basis. I tried to do that a few days ago, and was called out. Clearly, we have a lot of work ahead of us.

For these reasons, I’m not blacking out my entire site, but rather this one post.