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Comment by badclient | Hacker News Reader

So, what happens when I call my Congressman after learning about this on wikipedia and his office says "oh SOPA, that bill has been put on hold already since last week"? Won't many people get pissed at wikipedia?

Edit: I actually think they should call it off at the last moment. Save the nuclear option for another time.

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Former WMF counsel Mike Godwin (and former DC lawyer) just commented on the Foundation mailing list:

    Dan, you're misreading the implications of what the story you link to
    says. What's actually happening is that the House sponsors hope to
    defuse opposition by delaying and slightly modifying SOPA. My
    experience as a DC lawyer for much of my career strongly suggests that
    there's no reason to suspend expressions of opposition to SOPA or PIPA
    or the general effort by content companies to change the internet as
    we know it. In my view, it is wholly incorrect to say "that time is
    not right now."  Anything that the legislators can interpret as a lack
    of resolve from the internet communities will encourage them to
    resubmit SOPA or its equivalent in another form. The time for
    protesting this is, in fact, right now.

In that case, I will go with this guy's view :) He seems to know what he's talking about. Bring on the blackout!

Link to Mike Godwin's post:

http://lists.wikimedia.org/pipermail/foundation-l/2012-Janua...

I wonder, who does the average American trust more: their Congressman or Wikipedia?

(also: Wikipedia can easily put in a line next to the "Call your rep" section addressing this. I don't know about you, but "on hold" doesn't sound very final to me.)

I'd reckon most Americans, as guarded as they may be about politicians, would take the word of the office of a Congressman. It's crazy how easily people buy into things because it comes from a supposedly official source.

Really? With Congress at less than 10% approval, I would hope the people who are actually concerned enough to call would be less than fully trusting.

Congress as an institution has <10% approval, but most individual congressniks will keep on getting re-elected. "All politics is local", etc. It's never "your" congressnik, except in cases of infidelity or some other egregious media-hounded event.

Supporters of this censorship should be shamed and humiliated to set an example for future attempts. Make them regret their willingness to sell the American public.

Hopefully, Wikipedia explains on their site that even though it may seem like it's "dead" for now, the battle is far from over.

"[congressperson], i'm relieved that you and your colleagues agree with me that SOPA is not in americans best interests. I'd like to thank your for listening to the opinions of your constituents instead of bowing to pressure from lobbyists. I know that hollywood will continue to push for more legislation like this in the future, and i'm grateful to have a representative in congress that will continue to fight for my rights." blah blah blah...

call your congressperson, let them know that you we've won (even if we really haven't) and that we're still watching, we aren't going to forget, and that they can't pass this when we're not looking. This is a big win for us, because everybody likes friendly phone calls more than they do angry yelling. SOPA being shelved allows us to continue to push our message, but from a friendlier perspective that makes us easier to listen to.

the shutdowns still need to happen. people need to be know what kind of legislation the entertainment industry is trying to pass and we need to be ready to fight against it next time it comes up. if wikipedia shuts down tomorrow, it sets a precedent so that next time this issue comes up people already know the consequences.

Even with SOPA being put on hold, I still feel like the general public needs to be made aware of the fact that there are people in the government who are threatening to censor the internet. Wikipedia shutting down for a day will go a long way in demonstrating what a possible consequence of a censored internet could be and I think that'll be invaluable to the fight against a censored internet.

With that being said, I think the websites that are protesting on the 18th need to be evangelists for a free internet and not just deliver an anti-SOPA message.

SOPA has been put on hold, not completely removed from discussion. And even if (hopefully when) SOPA is completely removed, it is likely that something similiar might be introduced in the future.

Now that the topic has been brought up. a very strong showing of oppositions to the concepts contained in SOPA as well as SOPA itself is a very useful thing.

It's no longer about sopa, it is about notifying everyone in the world that there are governments all over the world trying to centralize and censor the internet, and that this is a very very bad thing. It isn't enough that we slap their hand for trying to break the internet on account of complete ignorance. The odds are 1 that Congress will try this again, we need to let the world know that the people who built the most powerful tool on earth today are concerned that governments are going to set us back 100 years and prevent an explosion of progress by turning the internet into a place only the fat cats can afford to participate in.

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