Cheezburger Celebrates 5 Years with a SOPA Protest on January 18th
Cheezburger recently turned 5 years old! Hooray for us! Who would have ever thought that a silly web site about cats could transform into the leading destination for online humor?!
Sadly, after 5 years, Cheezburger, and the entire Internet, are facing the most serious thread of censorship that has ever existed in the United States: SOPA.
In protest, Cheezburger will protest SOPA legislation with a “blackout” on January 18th. From Geekwire:
All Cheezburger sites will also be instituting a blackout on January 18th to protest SOPA and PIPA. Now, go ask Wikipedia to do it,” Huh said in a Tweet on Thursday. Wikipedia creator Jimmy Wales said he’s considering taking the popular online encyclopedia offline in protest of the legislation, a black-out being led by Reddit which noted in a blog post this week that “there are powerful forces trying to censor the Internet.
SOPA would enable the government to shut down websites based on the simple accusation of a copyright violation. No due process. No day in court. Just a claim and…poof…you’re done!
…Goodbye Cheezburger
…Goodbye Google
…Goodbye Facebook
…Goodbye Internet
Of course, those sites won’t really shut down. What will really happen is simple thuggery: major corporations with deep pockets will threaten a company like Facebook with a SOPA claim, but…through the graciousness of their good hearts…agree to withhold their claims for a modest fee.
I believe the mafia calls that “protection money”.
Just another step on the path to the Banana States of America.
Have you contacted your Senator? If not, do it now…here’s a list of phone numbers.