Why This Site Will Blackout for SOPA

Over at GeneaBloggers today I provided information to the genealogy online community about the SOPA Blackout as well as some resources you can use to blackout your own blog. Here are my personal reasons for participating in the blackout.

• I'm not doing this because the cool kids are all doing it.  I've been tracking the SOPA issue for weeks now.  I had decided last week to participate.  Even barring total withdrawal of the SOPA and PIPA legislation, I feel strongly that the issue of Internet censorship needs to be highlighted.

• Besides, a day off the Internets is probably good for all of us.  Work on your writing, scan some photos and documents.  I may actually do a total withdrawal including Twitter and Email.  Shocking, right?

• Most people in the genealogy community understand my commitment to copyright and intellectual property issues especially in the genealogy community.  I've been a strong advocate for educating oneself on the laws and the do's and don'ts.  I've actively pursued sploggers and violators and share my knowledge with other bloggers.

• But the solutions to piracy proposed by SOPA and PIPA are the typical half-a$$ed, intellectually lazy yet politically expedient "fixes" we've resigned ourselves to accepting from our lawmakers here in the United States.  A blackout is a very real way to say "We deserve better."

• Do I have a lot at stake?  Probably not as much as some of the larger venues participating like Wikipedia but every little bit counts.

All the blogs I run or where I am an author (see my Blogger profile at http://www.blogger.com/profile/09925130637060406529) will go black except for the FGS Conference News Blog, FGS Voice, GeneaPress, GeneaSpeak, GeneaWebinars, and ISBGFH Blog

© 2012, copyright Thomas MacEntee