SOPA – Anti Piracy Bill
Great infographic from The Globe and Mail about the new SOPA Anti Piracy Bill and what it actually means in plain English. Click on the image to see the enlarged version.
When I was trying to show someone how to upgrade a site to the latest version of WordPress today, I went to make a backup of the database as is always recommended. But the screen went black and told me that selected sites had gone black today in support of the campaign to stop the Anti Piracy Bill (also known as SOPA) in the US. The problem was that the black screen left us with the distinct impression that the site I was working on had gone black. In actual fact, our site was fine, it was the ability to use the plugin for backing up which had been withdrawn that day – along with countless others from technical sites to blogs.
It was a misleading and rather alarming message for those who were not aware of the campaign or, indeed, today’s action. In fact we were not sure at first as to whether the site had been hacked and, whilst I am in favour of the campaign itself, I’m not sure that this type of activity will help to promote support of their efforts. The problem with all such types of ‘indstrial’ action is that it draws attention to the cause but not always in a positive way.
However, it is all the more relevant at a time when the news here has been full of British student, Richard O’Dwyer, who is fighting an extradition case which will take him to the US to face charges for providing links to pirated films and US television shows.
