Web blackout against SOPA/PIPA marches on

By Shala Howell, January 18, 2012

Perhaps you’ve heard about the SOPA/PIPA protest going on across the web today?

Many, many people with a firmer grasp of the issues than me have written volumes about the problems with SOPA/PIPA, including Timothy Karr of SavetheInternet.com and former Rep. Joe Sestak. As Joe Sestak says:

Make no doubt, piracy is an issue that needs to be addressed, and the work of our artists need to be protected, but SOPA is not the answer. Instead of taking a sledgehammer to our internet, we should use a scalpel to specifically remove these rogue, foreign sources of piracy, while avoiding placing a burden on our American web companies.

We at Caterpickles and our sister site bostonwriters have elected not to join the blackout, but rather to do our little bit by writing our Senators, and spreading the word about it on our blog(s).

When I visited Daily Kos this afternoon, I saw this: WordPress joins blackout against SOPA/PIPA. Stamped across the article (and in fact across Daily Kos’ entire front page) is a red “Stop SOPA: Sign the petition” stamp, which when clicked pops up a form you can use to send a letter to your Senator.

Although I always wonder how effective these sorts of online actions really are, the blackout itself is clearly having an effect. Daily Kos reports that last week, only five Senators were publicly opposed to SOPA/PIPA. As of today, there are 18.

Update: Daily Kos reports that by 2 p.m. ET, the number of Senators opposed has risen to 25. Even cooler, that number includes Orrin Hatch, one of the original cosponsors, who now says that SOPA/PIPA “is simply not ready for prime time.”