WordPress The Latest Tech Company To Come Out Strongly Against SOPA/PIPA
from the welcome-to-the-club dept
As Lamar Smith continues to pretend there’s no real opposition to SOPA and PIPA, yet another massive online player has come out forcefully against SOPA — and urged its users to do the same. WordPress.org has taken a break from its usual “we don’t take political positions” position and come out strongly against both bills.
Normally we stay away from from politics here at the official WordPress project — having users from all over the globe that span the political spectrum is evidence that we are doing our job and democratizing publishing, and we don’t want to alienate any of our users no matter how much some of us may disagree with some of them personally. Today, I’m breaking our no-politics rule, because there’s something going on in U.S. politics right now that we need to make sure you know about and understand, because it affects us all.
And if you think WordPress is just some small tech player, you haven’t been paying attention. WordPress is huge:
We are not a small group. More than 60 million people use WordPress — it’s said to power about 15% of the web. We can make an impact, and you can be an agent of change. Go to Stop American Censorship for more information and a bunch of ways you can take action quickly, easily, and painlessly. The Senate votes in two weeks, and we need to help at least 41 more senators see reason before then. Please. Make your voice heard.
Yeah, but no one’s really against these bills, right SOPA/PIPA supporters? As Jane Wells, who wrote the post about this, notes, she’s “freaked the heck out,” because this bill threatens some of the fundamental principles of the internet, the same principles that democratized publishing and the independent web.
Every time you click Publish, you are a part of that change, whether you are posting canny political insight or a cat that makes you LOL. How would you feel if the web stopped being so free and independent? I’m concerned freaked right the heck out about the bills that threaten to do this, and as a participant in one of the biggest changes in modern history, you should be, too….
[….]
Some thoughts:
- In the U.S. our legal system maintains that the burden of proof is on the accuser, and that people are innocent until proven guilty. This tenet seems to be on the chopping block when it comes to the web if these bills pass, as companies could shut down sites based on accusation alone.
- Laws are not like lines of PHP; they are not easily reverted if someone wakes up and realizes there is a better way to do things. We should not be so quick to codify something this far-reaching.
- The people writing these laws are not the people writing the independent web, and they are not out to protect it. We have to stand up for it ourselves.
Blogging is a form of activism. You can be an agent of change. Some people will tell you that taking action is useless, that online petitions, phone calls to representatives, and other actions won’t change a single mind, especially one that’s been convinced of something by lobbyist dollars. To those people, I repeat the words of Margaret Mead:
Never doubt that a small group of thoughtful, committed citizens can change the world. Indeed, it is the only thing that ever has.
People are speaking out in droves. Will Congress still ignore them?
Filed Under: pipa, protect ip, sopa
Companies: automattic, wordpress
Comments on “WordPress The Latest Tech Company To Come Out Strongly Against SOPA/PIPA”
Scalable Messages
Maybe someone should make a plugin that allows for a popup lightbox with an anti-SOPA/PIPA/etc message that only comes up once per visit. Its easy to just make the landing page a static litany of aggravation, but something more elegant that can be distributed by the WP plugin system would be more efficient.
Re: Scalable Messages
AmericanCensorship.org actually had one of those and it was used here on Techdirt for a while. I don’t know if they are listing the code for it anymore, but I may have it still in my saved widgets on my wordpress site. It wasn’t really a plugin, but rather some Javascript code that created the popup.
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That’s what I was getting at. If they shoehorned it into a plugin and put it on the WP plugin registry, it would be a matter of searching and activating a plugin rather than editing a theme and remembering to reinstate said edit between theme updates. I’m a decent programmer, but I haven’t yet fiddled with the underlying WP code. If I get the time to play with it in the next couple days, I’ll look into at least providing them with an intelligent suggestion or even a prototype plugin. If anything comes of it, I’ll barge into the comments somewhere and link to it.
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You don’t need to edit the theme to add it. You just put the javascript in a Text widget in your sidebar or footer. It was actually very easy to add to my sites when I did it.
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*facepalm*
… well, I’ve gotten this far, I might as well continue. The aim of putting it up on the WP plugin registry is to get access to a wider audience with a lower effort requirement.
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That could certainly garner it some exposure, but not sure if it is really plugin material. That’s just me though. Perhaps we could see something different now that WordPress has officially come out against SOPA.
Re: Re: Re:4 Scalable Messages
I’ve got “something” that “works,” but its a ways from being done. Its pretty much an all or nothing blackout at the moment. And I’ve already had a couple scares where it accidentally worked on the editor page and blacked out everything.
(I spent some time on a “Hello World!” plugin to get started)
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I setup a sandbox site to test it out as I go… fyi.
Re: Re: Re:6 Scalable Messages
Its stable enough. Now I just have to get it into the repository.
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That’s pretty cool.
In a word, "yes"
People are speaking out in droves. Will Congress still ignore them?
Yes they will.
Re: In a word, "yes"
People tend not to act when they don’t believe it’ll have an effect. That is, if you believe your Congressman won’t represent you unless you give a campaign contribution that you can’t afford, you’re less likely to bother calling or even emailing the corrupt son-of-a-bitch.
Re: Re: In a word, "yes"
That’s why you call him/her anyways. Even if they don’t listen, even it they won’t change their minds, it’ll annoy the hell out of them. It’s the least we can to to punish the corrupt or willfully ignorant.
Re: Re: Re: In a word, "yes"
Almost two-thirds of the nation believes Congress are a gang of crooks.
Record 64% Rate Honesty, Ethics of Members of Congress Low, Gallup, Dec 12, 2011
Yet only about half the electorate expresses a preference to vote against their current crook. That’s compared to an unnamed challenger?you put an actual named candidate up against an incumbent, and, well, the district is gerrymandered.
Re: Re: Re:2 In a word, "yes"
I think that’s because many people [CITATION NEEDED / HEARSAY] think that being a crook is now a job requirement for politics at the national level.
Re: Re: Re:2 In a word, "yes"
It’s simple really. The guy you voted for can’t be a crook, because you voted for him. It’s all those other congress critters that are unethical criminal misfits.
Re: In a word, "yes"
It’s easy to get pessimistic but I tend to think about it in this way: if let’s say only 5% of people contact their representatives about issues they feel strongly about, then if you choose to voice your opinion that makes you a spokesperson for 20 other voters. So it’s a responsibility to shoulder, and your voice carries more weight than you might think at first.
It’s an even bigger responsibility if you think about the ~100 people from other parts of the world who want to avoid limitations to free speech and due process take root in the U.S. and then spread from there, but who are excluded from the political process.
It’s true that in a partly corrupt political system like that in the U.S. you might need to reach some kind of critical mass before there is any real change, but it’s not at all impossible to do so – internet helps people organize.
Re: In a word, "yes"
“Will Obama still ignore them?”
YES HE CAN!!!
People are speaking out in droves. Will Congress still ignore them?
Yes.
70 to 90%* of the people didn’t want the bank bailouts.
Yet they happened.
The people don’t write checks to the Congressperson’s re-election campaign. Nor do the people pay the retired Congresspeople “consulting fees”. And almost none of the people showing up at the grandchild’s birthday party has the same effect as movie star X does.
The only power the people have is to spend their money with vendors who didn’t support SOPA. This is a start of a way to shift spending:
http://occupyamerica.ning.com/profiles/blogs/boycott-sopa-an-android-app-that-terrifies-publishers-and?xg_source=activity
Source code is there.
* depends on who’s numbers you want to quote.
Re: Re:
70 to 90%* of the people didn’t want the bank bailouts.
Yet they happened.
I can understand why they did that one. You only need to read the history of The Great Depression to see back then what happened when the Government did NOTHING to help the banks or much else.
A few banks collapsed and this led to a snowball effect with hundreds and then thousands of branches all over the country then collapsing. People no longer trusted the banks who lost their money so they began to horde gold under their mattresses instead.
That is a situation of total economic disaster. This situation lasted for too many years until the Government helped the banks, stimulated the economy and invested in jobs. Not to forget banning gold hoarding should people now be tempted.
So the Government wins that round. What they did early on during this economic crisis is exactly the same as what they learned from The Great Depression.
I can certainly understand why people are upset when helping the banks is like avoiding economic death by attempting economic attempted suicide. Avoiding death in a fire by jumping out a 5th story window.
So it was the lesser of two great evils and I believe life is better off now because of it. The public are not always informed enough to be right.
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“For schnitz and giggles, try watching Fox News Network and see how many “Buy gold now!” ads they have on TV.”
Yes, well, that’s simply a matter of advertisers knowing their target audience. Those “Buy gold now!” ads target the less affluent, ill-informed folks willing to believe stuff based not on facts but on hopes, dreams, and decades old misconceptions.
Par for the course, as far as Fox News is concerned….
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There’s a whole host of major hedge fund managers who wish they had invested in gold last year rather than equities. In my view, “hopes, dreams, and decades old misconceptions” applies to the stock market today, not precious metals.
But really, for “less affluent” folk, I find silver easier to get into. Silver is only $30 an ounce right now, and you can get it for only slightly over the spot price if you buy it in junk silver. Gold is hard to get in any weight that won’t break the bank for the average person, since 1/10 of an ounce (seriously, that’s a smaaaalll coin) is still about $200.
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The ads on Fox are also peppered with a lot of “Cash for Gold!” commercials. Combining both I see a plan to separate people from their money.
To use a South Park list:
1. Sell gold at an inflated price.
2. Buy gold back at below cost.
3. ????
4. Profit!
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I’d rather drown in schnitz than sit through that kind of tripe long enough to see a commercial.
/beerfest
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I can certainly understand why people are upset when helping the banks is like avoiding economic death by attempting economic attempted suicide. Avoiding death in a fire by jumping out a 5th story window.
So it was the lesser of two great evils and I believe life is better off now because of it. The public are not always informed enough to be right.
Well I give them about 55% for what they did – it’s a pass mark – but they could have done better.
The smart move would have been to protect the bank creditors without protecting the bank bosses.
The government should have guaranteed all customer funds, then allowed the institutions to fail – voiding all employment contracts)then nationalised the banks and made all the senior people re-apply for their jobs at (hugely) reduced salaries. They should also have found a way to recover some of the debt from the most senior employees. (Stung them with Jammie Thomas style damages – re-scaled to their enormous salaries).
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“You only need to read the history of The Great Depression to see back then what happened when the Government did NOTHING to help the banks or much else.”
We have the FDIC in place now.
It was created after the Great Depression to assure the bank collapses that occurred wouldn’t wipe peoples’ assets out.
99% of us didn’t need the bailouts.
Only the 1% did.
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I can understand why they did that one. You only need to read the history of The Great Depression to see back then what happened when the Government did NOTHING to help the banks or much else.
But this is the exact reason for Occupy Wall Street. When you look at the history, the banks were bailed out because of how much they lobbied the government to make favorable rules for them. No one was arrested for predatory loans where the people made 7x the loan on minorities or become a part of the revolving door problem.
A few banks collapsed and this led to a snowball effect with hundreds and then thousands of branches all over the country then collapsing. People no longer trusted the banks who lost their money so they began to horde gold under their mattresses instead.
Yes, but let’s not forget that Alan Greenspan lowered the interest rate to induce borrowing which began to destroy the economy. Now, those same banks are holding onto free money while funding private prisons and doing questionable bank foreclosures.
This situation lasted for too many years until the Government helped the banks, stimulated the economy and invested in jobs. Not to forget banning gold hoarding should people now be tempted.
Look again, the Fed. Reserve was doing the same thing to the economy and the banks were the ones holding onto the money until WWII. The downside of Keynesian economics was not discovered until Citizens United exposed the problem.
So it was the lesser of two great evils and I believe life is better off now because of it.
No, it’s not. The middle class is becoming less significant, the government is censoring and locking up its populace and most of our presidential nominees are so out of touch with those being affected by the laws that they will never make rules that will actually better society.
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I would not say that this was all the Bank’s fault when it was Congress who forced the Banks to do mortgages to poorer people who could hardly afford it. They want poor people to have the same rights as richer people to get a home even if they were much more risky.
Doing that for years along with over spending is what put the United States in this mess with so many defaulting while the home market prices collapsed.
The banks lost a great deal of money and here we are. At least Congress cleaned up their own mess even if they are not the ones who pay for it.
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I would not say that this was all the Bank’s fault when it was Congress who forced the Banks to do mortgages to poorer people who could hardly afford it. They want poor people to have the same rights as richer people to get a home even if they were much more risky.
Do you realize the bank lobbyists are second only to the pharmaceutical industry in political clout?
Also, I remember exactly why the system wasn’t allowed to fix this problem. Freddie and Fannie lobbied Congress by giving Newt $1.6 million dollars to ignore the problems. This does not even begin to describe all of the problems that were ignored in the push for deregulation of the banks to promote unsafe loans.
The banks lost a great deal of money and here we are. At least Congress cleaned up their own mess even if they are not the ones who pay for it
No, the public cleaned up their mess. The banks lost money, haven’t invested in new businesses, gave the CEOs a lot of money in loans, foreclosed on houses illegally, and have exposed how much money runs through the system and ends up as lobbying money for new rules favorable to the big banks.
Congress for the most part, sold out the public for private interests.
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And we still have companies that are “too big to fail.”
Hardly a free market.
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“The public are not always informed enough to be heard”
And they are NEVER important enough to be represented.
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I imagine that 99% of the population wants the banksters prosecuted, I doubt that will happen.
i still find it quite strange that so many that are speaking out about SOPA/PIPA have taken so long to do so. nothing has changed, the Bill still has the same things in it. it is still going to do the same amount of harm that it was a few months ago, so why wait til now to say anything? guilt, maybe, as more and more are expressing their fears? or fear itself, because they could be in the position of losing their own website or much of the business they have been getting when people go elsewhere?
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Study Confirms: News Networks Owned By SOPA Supporters… Are Ignoring SOPA/PIPA
Don’t underestimate the amount of time it takes for news to spread. Especially when broadcast media is not blasting out 24/7 ticker-line coverage scrolling at the bottom of every boob-tube. With the bleach-blonde anchor repeating herself every half-hour.
(Even when broadcast media is blasting out 24/7 ticker-line coverage scrolling at the bottom of every boob-tube, it still takes a surprising amount of time for everyone to get the news….)
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Agreed. Most people (even those I know who spend a fair amount of time on the internet) rarely go out of their way to become informed about politics. At most, the majority have 2-3 specialized news feed/outlets and simply rely on the front pages such as yahoo. Comcast or aol to deliver their news (none of which have provide anything on SOPA/PIPA that I have seen.
About time for WordPress!
I’ve been blogging on WordPress for some time, and I think it’s about time that this site (which is huge) make a public statement-I’m sure that I’m not the only one who’s come out vehemently against SOPA in my blog.
After all, SOPA will destroy nearly all freedom of speech if given the green light.
The ones who count (such as Congress) will ignore the protests. After all, they’re the ones who enact legislation that the rest of us must endure.
Damn stupid fools-both the populace who vote for them and the people they elect.
Yeah, but no one’s really against these bills, right SOPA/PIPA supporters?
More hyperbolic nonsense. Name one single SOPA/PROTECT IP (it’s not “PIPA” as you guys call it) supporter who said no one’s against the bill. You cannot.
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Lamar Smith said the opponents of SOPA don’t matter.
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If Lamar Smith said opponents don’t matter, then he is acknowledging that opponents exist. You’re only proving my point.
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it’s not “PIPA” as you guys call it
Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) United States Senate Bill S.968
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From the bill: http://www.govtrack.us/congress/billtext.xpd?bill=s112-968
It’s PROTECT IP, not PIPA. I think it was the EFF who started calling it PIPA and others repeated it.
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Seriously… you’re that anal about it?
AC, I think we know who you really are: Sheldon Cooper.
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AC, I think we know who you really are: Sheldon Cooper.
As anal as Sheldon Cooper is, I doubt very seriously that Sheldon would either be a supporter of SOPA/PIPA or anal about what the correct acronym for PIPA is. I might be wrong, but I personally believe politics would confuse and bother Sheldon. Unless it was about science it would be like Sheldon fixing all world problems by moving a particular group of people to Northern Mexico who are historically tied to the land they currently reside in (a fish out of water.)
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Gee. It is all the same so get over it.
Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA)
United States Senate Bill S.968
PROTECT IP ACT (PIPA)
PIPA, PIPA, PIPA and more PIPA.
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Yes, and the DMCA is not the DMCA either!
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Yeah, but no one’s really against these bills, right SOPA/PIPA supporters?
More hyperbolic nonsense. Name one single SOPA/PROTECT IP (it’s not “PIPA” as you guys call it) supporter who said no one’s against the bill. You cannot.
Firstly you slightly misquote the article – it says “no-one’s really agains the bill!” you contract that to “no one’s against the bill”
Secondly there have been many instances of Lamarr Smith saying things like “Since there is no basis for their complaints, one wonders what the bill’s critics are really worried about. ” trying to patronise his opponents into submission and saying they are a “strident” minority (the implication being that they are not important).
So the thrust of his statements is that his opponents are either misguided or don’t matter. “no one’s really against these bills,” is not a bad summary of his attitude even if it isn’t a direct quote.
It's already a done deal!
As much as I’m against this legislation, I know that the Fascist government that now exist in America will stop at nothing to see this bill passed. It’s been on their agenda along with bills S.510, HR 645, 2012 NDAA and the Media Monitoring Initiative under the control of DHS. Economic collapse will lead to Martial Law in the United States. The pieces are falling into place, SOPA and PIPA will become law whether the majority supports it or not. Freedom of Speech will be an illusion.
If it does pass we should be ready for serious civil rights prote3sts both on the street and on the Internet.All supporters if possible should be boycotted.I will go so far as to write a physical letter to mail out to the supporters.
SOPA/PIPA = WAR
I am willing to fight for my Freedom as our Constitution says we have Rights.
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Maybe not protests but just clear civil disobedience. Igore these rules as far as possible to demonstrate the contemt in which they should be held.
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Bullshit.
A week ago, Occupy media operations got raided. It hardly even caused a splash among the Occupy protesters?let alone anywhere else.
?Occupy Livestream Operators Will Be Homeless After They Get Out of Jail?, The Atlantic Wire, Jan 4, 2012
People are speaking out in droves. Will Congress still ignore them?
Yes. Congress is going to ignore them. Congress is going to ignore everyone. Jesus, Buddha, Satan, and Bugs Bunny could all show up in person at Congress to complain about SOPA, and they’d get ignored.
Congress is deliberately ignoring public opinion, because they believe there can be absolutely no negative consequences for them no matter what they do. Don’t get reelected? Free $500k/yr job from your corporate allies.
They have nothing to lose, and the law can’t be changed so that they could have something to lose because they control the law. At this point, the only thing they’re afraid of is public resentment increasing from “ad-hoc protests forming overnight” to “open revolt”, hence the NDAA.
When has government
Paid any attention to what the public wanted or what was good for the country? What’s important is increasing the power and control over the public so they can be kept in line as good little consumers and taxpayers.
Right and wrong, freedom or liberty has nothing to do with it. It’s power to the government and woe to anyone or anything get in the way of that.
So long, Amerika, it was nice to know ye.
Wordpress my new Hero
I kinda understand why WordPress took so long to speak up.
They have always had my respect as a company that thumbed their noses at government tyrants by refusing to censor legal, albeit controversial, materials. As a CGI erotica artist myself, I have been super frustrated at sites like deviant art who seem to arbitrarily decide what is considered art or porn in this regard.
I have had my work taken down only to see something very similar or more extreme remain. Now my issue with DA is very similar to the issues I have with SOPA and PIPA, namely, when the idea of what is objectionable or constitutes a violation relies on whims or an eye of the beholder mechanism–whose work, or business, is safe?
WordPress as a major, has alone, in IMHO, stood up against the net nanny and government tyrants to give people a free voice. Because of this they have been banned in several countries–still hasn’t hurt them one iota and a big hallelujah to that. I told my husband I am gonna just buy a wordpress page just to financially support them for this stance alone even though I already have a website. I’ll figure a use for it.
Seriously though, love or hate my work, WP won’t ban titties and peni from being artfully (or even not so artfully) exhibited.
It is this neutrality and respect for diverse ideas and opinions that kept them silent and I understand that.
I more greatly respect however, that they pushed aside their neutrality, to speak up.
Bravo again.
As a digital artist, I know that almost 90 percent of the digital Creationist community opposes these bills. Piracy does hurt artist and honest people of conscience DO NOT engage in it in the TRADITIONAL sense of the word. I mean who hasn’t created a mixed CD for a friend, or shared a copyrighted photo on a FB page?
But this is not piracy–no more than a kid drawing a picture of Mickie Mouse…
The real traffickers and criminals who engage in active piracy go unpunished while someone who innocently shares info is hunted down like a dog. I for one would be thrilled to see my work on a fan’s facebook page–it actually helps, not hurts, me.
Many artist concur.
Did you know that Alicia Keys and even Justin Beiber spoke out against this as well in a YOUTUBE vid. That video was removed from Youtube post haste.
What law did it violate? I dunno…
Shades of things to come?
I will never support piracy–I pay for all intellectual materials I use in my work including soundtracks and footage unless otherwise offered for free.
When I come across a nostalgic oldie on youtube–if so inclined–I hunt down iTunes to purchase it for continued play…
I know many people who do the same.
Sharing info HELPS music artist, even older ones, who otherwise wouldn’t be making a dime (well–hopefully these older artists are making money–many were raped by the Record Labels who left them penniless while the corporate fat cats who didn’t sing a note or write a lyric continue to get the bucks). Yeah–where were the passionate, law creating advocates then?
Anyone with a brain knows what this is really about. It’s about the mainstream mega corps trying to force indies out of business via coercion. Lets say, that via the viral process, my works takes off. If Time/Warner became interested, they would have to step up and not screw me over by producing a fair contract, as I could generate revenue on my own without them. Most artist contracts are not even remotely close to being fair so this is, of course, something they would not want.
I then become a competitor, with the ability to take revenue from them at some point in the game if I grow larger.
BUT if they silence my voice–problem solved.
The very nature of my work makes me a target. Someone with more prudish inclinations could get all offended-like by seeing a nipple and decide–heck–I think that character looks like Johnny Depp–and bam–Site down–no recourse.
I am a literal starving artist here–with what means would I fight?
I hate piracy–I hate this legislation even more.
All I can say is RON PAUL ya’ll 2012. He is the ONLY candidate with a consistent, unwavering voting record. The man NEVER voted to raise his own pay and he refuses to take a congressional pension.
He also never accepted medicaid or medicare while practicing as a doctor.
Proudly Christian, he would fight for the liberty of all, not just those who think as he does, including gays or those who have lifestyles outside his own.
In other words, he understand that liberty is for ALL not just the team you happen to be playing on.
Wanna prevent future SOPA?
Ron Paul…
*off soap box*
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