Monday’s Digital Dump: SOPA Blackouts, Getting Shelved, and PIPA on the Table

What started on reddit has spread across the Web like a viral cat video, site blackouts against SOPA and PIPA.

If you are a frequent user of anything Web related there is an increased chance that you have heard quite a bit about SOPA or PIPA in the past few months. Whether or not you are ignoring it now or not, both of these bills could drastically affect how you experience the Web. Even if it starts out small and compromised it sets the foundation for global lock downs on the way we share, post, and contribute content to the Web. Here are five of the latest articles or posts that relate to these bills.

Please note that Play This Media and all of its related sites will be blacked out on January 18.

One: reddit actives the hivemind

Reddit General Manager, Erik Martin, has been quite active and open about how SOPA and PIPA could affect us, and when you peak the interest of the hivemind there are likely to be reprecussions to follow. Reddit users had suggested and supported the idea of a sitewide blackout in support of defeating both bills.

Stopped they must be; on this all depends.

Two: Ohanian Takes SOPA and PIPA to the Hill

Needless to say another well known redditor, co-founder Alexis Ohanian, has also been making the rounds and will be testifying at the House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform on the blackout date. Other prominent CEO’s and Web influencers will also be part of the testimony.

SOPA: House to hear testimony from Reddit co-founder, Rackspace CEO & others

Three: Join the Blackout on January 18

On January 18 many sites have pledged to be part of the sitewide blackout including I Can Has Cheezburger, and thanks to Shu Chen (@sirpengi) and Jacob Miller you can now blackout your site with a simple piece of code. They also linked to some useful information, and a WordPress plugin that makes it even easier to add to your site. The blackout is set for January 18 from 8 am – 8 pm. This might also be considered one of the most productive days of work ever. No LOLcats, no reddit…. oh god.

SOPA Blackout

Four: SOPA shelved until consensus met

If you have any experience with how things work on Capitol Hill you know that when they shelve something that essentially is its death sentence. The House committee has shelved the bill until a consensus is found between those who approve and disapprove of the bill. PIPA on the other hand is still technically on the table, and can still act as a foundation to other censorship on the Web, killing of innovation and creativity.

Controversial online piracy bill shelved until ‘consensus’ is found

OpenCongress Summary of SOPA

This bill would establish a system for taking down websites that the Justice Department determines to be dedicated to copyright infringment. The DoJ or the copyright owner would be able to commence a legal action against any site they deem to have “only limited purpose or use other than infringement,” and the DoJ would be allowed to demand that search engines, social networking sites and domain name services block access to the targeted site. It would also make unauthorized web streaming of copyrighted content a felony with a possible penalty up to five years in prison. This bill combines two separate Senate bills – S.968 and S.978 – into one big House bill. [Source]

OpenCongress Summary of PIPA

Establishes a system for taking down websites that the Justice Department determines to be “dedicated to infringing activities.” The DoJ or the copyright owner would be able to commence a legal action against the alleged infringer and the DoJ would be allowed to demand that search engines, social networking sites and domain name services block access to the targeted site. In some cases, action could be taken to block sites without first allowing the alleged infringer to defend themselves in court. [Source]