We were recently informed about Reddit’s plan to black their incredibly popular site out on January 18th as a method of protesting the anti-piracy acts that are currently in a holding pattern in the US House of Representatives and the Senate. Now, there are other sites joining Reddit’s show of anti-SOPA solidarity.
While folks are still waiting on Wikipedia to commit to the blackout, one way or another, some other sites of note have declared their intentions to join the blackout as well. Perhaps the most popular of these are the Cheezburger sites, which were made famous for their help in popularizing the LOLCats meme. The public was informed of this decision via Ben Huh’s Twitter:
@benhuh
benhuhAll Cheezburger sites will also be instituting a blackout on January 18th to protest SOPA and PIPA. Now, go ask Wikipedia to do it.
20 hours ago via web · powered by @socialditto
The Cheezburger network is not the only site openly supporting copyright infringement — if Lamar Smith were to tell it — as other site owners have expressed an interest in taking a stand against the piracy bills. For instance, Tucows is also joining in with the blackout, and while they may not be as popular as they once were, or, at least the act of downloading of free software, the company’s name still has recognition. From the Tucows blog:
The proposed SOPA (and equally odious “Protect IP Act“) legislation is fundamentally flawed in how it works and the damage it is likely to do to the Internet, which has been the greatest platform for innovation the world has ever seen. For that reason we will be joining the blackout organized by our friends at Reddit by blacking out the Tucows Software Download site on January 18th from 8am to 8pm EST (1300-0100 UTC).
A video game developer, Red 5 Studios, is also joining the blackout, something The Escapist discussed in a recent post:
While the games industry’s response to the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) has been relatively muted so far, Firefall developer Red 5 Studios has announced its intention to completely shut down its website, community site and Firefall beta on January 18 as a protest against the controversial legislation. It has also cancelled its booth at E3 to protest the continued support given to SOPA by the event’s organizers, the Electronic Software Association (ESA).
As the blackout day gets closer, expect the list of participating sites to continue growing.