To show my opposition to the internet blacklist bills (like SOPA and PIPA) currently being debated in the US, Petopia, Warcraft Mounts, WoW Tabards, Dark Urban Fantasy, and Elder Game will be going dark for twelve or so hours on most of January 18th, 2012.
(The exact hours will depend on when I get up. And while I haven’t decided exactly how to do it yet, I will be providing a cover page about why these sites aren’t available and where to find more information.)
This is the same day that Wikipedia, reddit, and others are shutting down in whole or part for twelve to twenty-four hours.
I’m not trying to punish the people who use my sites, but I think it is vitally important to educate everyone about this topic. And not just people in the US - these bills can and will affect the internet worldwide.
They most certainly have the potential to affect Petopia and the rest of the independent World of Warcraft community.
Petopia, Warcraft Mounts, WoW Tabards, and Dark Urban Fantasy are not political sites. And yet at a very basic level, all of my sites embrace a very political ideal: the freedom to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds.
Here are two quotes from the Wikimedia Foundation that sum up my feelings about this action:
[...] although Wikipedia’s articles are neutral, its existence is not.
and
We depend on a legal infrastructure that makes it possible for us to operate. And we depend on a legal infrastructure that also allows other sites to host user-contributed material, both information and expression.
In the past week, we’ve seen the supporters behind the SOPA bill in tactical retreat. But the broader topic of an internet blacklist is not going away. To quote Wikimedia again:
All around the world, we’re seeing the development of legislation intended to fight online piracy, and regulate the Internet in other ways, that hurt online freedoms. Our concern extends beyond SOPA and PIPA: they are just part of the problem. We want the Internet to remain free and open, everywhere, for everyone.
So that’s why I’m doing this despite the fact that Petopia is not political. This isn’t about partisan politics. This isn’t about copyright infringement. This is about free as in free speech, not free as in free beer. This is about not screwing up the internet. And the internet is incredibly important to me.
Yesterday was my birthday. I am now 38 years old. I spent about half the day thinking I was 39 until I sat down and did the math. But this is still better than last year, when I spent several months thinking I was only 36 instead of 37. Regardless, I’m getting up there.