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GoDaddy Backs SOPA
redletterdave writes "Website hosting company GoDaddy has officially voiced its support for the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) Bill in 2012, which is designed to thwart movie and music piracy on the Internet by empowering copyright holders to effectively shut down websites or online services found with infringing material. If passed, the U.S. government could blacklist any website it deems in violation of copyright, which could range from a few posts in a Web forum to a few links sent in an e-mail. GoDaddy supports SOPA for 'protecting the intellectual property of hard-working Americans, U.S. business and the American public from the harm that necessarily flows from the purchase of counterfeit products.' Yet, of the 142 companies that support the SOPA bill, GoDaddy is the only Internet company on the list."
Anyone in the industry has known to avoid GoDaddy for domains. Their sole existence is based on commercials and advertisements, not good service. It's a perfect example that advertisements works too. This news isn't exactly surprising and will do nothing to GoDaddy's market share.
to move my domain off of GoDaddy. My laziness only gets them so much revenue.
-- Two men say they're Jesus. One of them must be wrong. - Dire Straits
Regulatory requirements are hardest on smaller entities to implement. This is exactly the kind of barrier that would make it unprofitable for a small DNS provider to implement. Just as HIPAA favors large HMOs over smaller ones, and SOx helps mega-corporations.
Moving your domains now and sending them a note will help *prevent* this bill being passed.
Don't wait for them to pass it.
Do it now, and email them to tell them why you're doing it.
I suspect GoDaddy stands to make a lot of money blacklisting, blocking, banning, and otherwise screwing up the DNS, for a price...and that is why they signed.
1^2=1; (-1)^2=1; 1^2=(-1)^2; 1=-1; 1=0.
"What metric does the US government use to determine if some content is infringing that makes it worth shutting down access to the entire website?"
The standard one court order. Just needs a single judge to sign the paperwork. The entire point of SOPA is to shut down sites that are hosted and operated from outside the US, so a full trial is not possible.
And their prices after coupons are low enough that I don't care about their ads. Does anybody else have better prices for .com or anything else for that matter? Not that I've found.
How SOPA's 'circumvention' ban could put a target on Tor
The Christian religion has been and still is the principal enemy of moral progress in the world. -- Bertrand Russell
NASCAR, need I say more? NASCAR depends on ESPN and the networks who are part of the media conglomerates who are pushing SOPA through in the first place. GoDaddy's primary advertising partner is a NASCAR driver.
Personally, I don't know how advertising through Danika Patrick ever worked out for them. It's not like they have advertisements on their website, so it's not like tricking rednecks into thinking there's Danika Patrick porn on there really brings in any revenue. I've had to explain to several people what GoDaddy actually is, because even after they visit the site in the vain hope of seeing Danika take it all off, they still don't understand what it's for.
As far as purchasing domains and web hosting. . .I don't know anyone who uses them. Obviously some people do, but I've always assumed they have some advertising scheme worked out. The way they exploit Danika just seems to imply there's no sense of business ethics, or even the desire to appear to have some, at the company. Of course, supporting SOPA proves this theory of mine.
"From the depths of my skeptical and rationalist soul, I ask the Lord to protect me from California touchie-feeliedom."
Isn't the point of SOPA to block people within the USA from accessing content outside of the USA that they cannot otherwise claim jurisdiction over?
Nope. The point of SOPA is to abuse Verisign's US jurisdiction by seizing the domains of content on .COM/.NET/.ORG outside of the USA (and inside, too. Let's be honest. Why go through the trouble of a trial when they've got their new rubber stamp to meet the same end?) so that NO ONE can access it. They're trying to be the great firewall of China for the whole world.
It won't work that way, of course, but it's still the intention.
The media abuses the word "piracy" just like they do "hacker". Piracy is NOT when you download a game without paying for it. Piracy is NOT when a friend photocopies a book for you to read. Piracy is NOT getting a copy of the latest Gaga CD from a torrent.
Piracy is when you use someone else's copyrighted or patented content and sell it as your own. This is usually done by organized crime. For example, crime organizations in Malaysia or even NYC that have duplicating operations to mass produce DVDs. They make 10,000 copies of The Matrix and then sell them on the streets for $5. THAT is piracy.
Likewise, when someone operates a back room knock-off salon in NYC or elsewhere (including online) where people knowing or unknowingly buy, say, knock-off Prada handbags for $50 instead of $500.. That is piracy.
It's difficult to figure out which comment you mean, but if it's the one feebly attempting to justify spammer Bob Parson's actions, then do consider this: let's presume, for the sake of argument, that the circumstances are as you portray them. (I have strong doubts that this is the case, but let's go with it for a moment.) Then, given that spammer Bob Parsons is an extraordinarily wealthy man, why not hand a big fat check over to one of the non-profit organizations trying to save endangered species... so that they can relocate the elephant? And while they're at it, some rhinos and primates, too -- there are a lot of animals which are endangered in part because humans have occupied land essential to their survival. Why not do some positive good in the world...instead of getting his rocks off by slaughtering an innocent, thinking, feeling animal?