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ShirLee McGarry's Homes4SaleUtah BLOG, features great articles for consumers, homeowners and Realtors® addressing community, local, state and national real estate news. Articles also include refreshing humor to encourage smiles and support for all real estate warriors in the trenches who do stand out to make a difference in their client's lives in the exciting and challenging world of the Realtor®. Penned by Associate Broker-Realtor®,and Registered Author, ShirLee McGarry® with RealtyPath in Sandy, Utah

Wednesday, January 18, 2012

Get Ready, Set, Shutdown Internet Blackout...

Popular Web Sites Shut Down Today in Protest

Thought I'd get this posted before everything shuts down!!!!

WordPress.org, Craigslist, Wikipedia, Moveon.org, Reddit, and Firefox browser creator Mozilla are among more than a dozen Web sites that are going dark on Wednesday for a 24-hour period to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA), which critics say threaten free speech on the Internet.

The antipiracy legislation is a move by Congress to crack down on the sales of pirated U.S. products overseas. But U.S. Web site makers say that the legislation infringes on their freedom of speech and could have potential widespread, negative effects for Internet users.

“The proposed bills pave the way for authorities to shut down Web sites accused of online privacy -- something that concerns huge sites like Google, Twitter, and others,” Fox News reports.

Google, Twitter, and Facebook -- who also are strongly opposing SOPA -- say they will not be participating in Wednesday’s blackout. However, at midnight Eastern time Wednesday, Google blacked out its logo on its home page in protest. Visitors who click on the blacked-out logo will be directed to more information about the protest.

The 24-hour blackout starting Wednesday on more than a dozen web sites is expected to detour millions of Internet users.

"We want to give people a visceral example of what would happen when content is blocked," Rob Beschizza, managing editor of the blog Boing Boing, told USA Today. The blog will be shutting down Wednesday, giving visitors an error message that explains the protest.

Source: “Web sites Go Dark in Protest of Proposed Legislation,” USA Today (Jan. 17, 2012) and “Sites Go Dark to Protest Anti-Piracy Proposals SOPA, PIPA,” Fox News (Dallas) (Jan. 18, 2012)