By Robbi Drake

What a Day!!

January 18th was a day that will be forever embedded in the minds of the people who took part.. The SOPA Strike shut down massive numbers of websites.

It was just crazy wasn’t it?

It was precedent setting, it was amazing and it rocked the world. Today we did something amazing… and the really important part, we have a chance to win.
Wikipedia went down for the day, Google featured censorship ads  for the SOPA protest (We and so many others applaud Google)) and launched a petition, huge sites, founders of major companies, like Reddit, Flickr and many others joined with founders of software like  Netscape  who joined with Open Source software companies like WordPress and Firefox, who were joined by volunteer places like Wikipedia.Sites went down from the protest, while legislators sites went down from the sheer volume of the people trying to visit them or email them.

Today was earth shaking!!

Small companies and individual proprietor sites joined with the likes of major companies to tiny businesses along with many other individual sites all banded together to defend the future of the internet.

Today we made history with the SOPA and PIPA protests. Old geeks and young ones, rich and not so rich all stood shoulder to shoulder to defend what the internet is all about. The freedom to openly exchange ideas, information and friendship.

Here is what happens when this kind of unity takes place:

Legislators removed their support for the bill. Last week only 5 opposed it, this week there are 35 and it only takes 41 to stall it in action.

We–a whole lot of individuals, made history today and you were part of it. Here is what happens when you mess with geeks. . .

Firefox Browser Website Anti Sopa Banner

Firefox Browser, the major browser of more than half the internet shut down their site for the day..Bravo!

Google's Protest Banners Made History!

Google, the undisputed king of search, also offered their own protest in a move that was literally unprecedented in their history. Business and Volunteers joined together to protest, but also to educate.

Many businesses claimed it was not the province of business to play politics. Let me inject something here. This is NOT playing politics. This is protecting the last place in the world where ideas may be freely exchanged across continents, where the economy isn’t all that bad and people actually work together to create something new and unique.

REDDIT SOPA protest banner

It’s been said that those of us who protest SOPA and PIPA are pro piracy, that we steal movies and maybe even read your email. The facts are that most of us don’t like piracy any more than you do, but we don’t believe that you cure a hang nail by cutting off an arm. Likewise you don’t punish the world for the actions of a relative few.

The very sad part is that before today, less than 25% of the world knew what SOPA or PIPA were. It took a lot of yelling and a lot of education for that knowledge to take place. Business is NOT the place to play politics, but you have an obligation to your customers and your clients to educate them about the facts when legislation like this is pending. Because many of us believed that business and politics should not mix, many people didn’t know what SOPA was, what it did, and how SOPA could change the face of the internet and the world.

In neglecting to educate the people who could be affected by SOPA, the business world, and the media played directly into the hands of those who could have–and may yet affect our lives in ways that frankly… we cannot imagine.

Wikipedia Front Page January 18 2012.

Thank you to companies and insightful groups like Wikipedia, Reddit, WordPress, Flickr, Firefox, Google and so many others who believed that this wasn’t politics, it was education and it was necessary!!.

It’s not over!! In fact, it isn’t over by a long shot. It’s  not time to rest on your laurels, but to keep the forward momentum that was gained today and use it to drive home the point that politicians who propose taking any more of our freedoms may not have a job any more.
Spend this week calling your legislators, and encourage them in phone calls, in emails, in personal visits to their offices to make sure that SOPA and PIPA are cast aside as the bad ideas that they are when it comes time to vote on them.

AND!!! Get out there and educate as many people as you can about SOPA and PIPA. The number of companies and the people who believe that it can’t affect them, or won’t hurt them, are frightening in their numbers. It isn’t politics– it’s survival.

For a list of representatives of all states, as well as telephone numbers and contact information, please visit the link provided. Contact Your State Legislators