SOPA Protests: In Internet-DRIVEN Activism, It’s the Customers & Users Who Matter
Also published on HuffingtonPost
Here’s an angle that just occurred to me about today’s widespread online protests against the “Stop Online Piracy Act”: normally we talk about digital activism being HOSTED on the internet, but this is a great example of what happens when the companies behind the internet start to DRIVE protest. And when they’re driving the protest, it’s their customers and users who matter.
One immediate consequence of so many sites shutting down: quite likely, a short, sharp spike in human productivity! With no Wikipedia to be my procrastination-buddy, how can I “spend” time “researching” the latest findings on Kuyper Belt Objects or doing vital “work” like checking out the anti-aircraft armament of modern Chinese ocean-going frigates? What, I’m supposed to do my job??? Even the LOLcats have gone on strike!
In any case, if you’re out of the loop, here’s what’s up. To protest legislation in Congress that (among other things) would make it much easier to shut down websites that host content that someone claims is pirated, sites ranging from Wikipedia to Google have painted themselves black or shut down their normal content in favor of asking readers to pressure their representatives to kill the bill. For instance, Wikipedia asks U.S. readers to enter a zip code and then contact their congressmembers, conveniently providing both the phone numbers and a link to the members’ web contact forms. No list-building here! Just pure advocacy.
1 comment January 18th, 2012 Trackback Bookmark on del.icio.us
