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blackout!

We’re supposed to shut down —

The internet on January 18th. Everyone. All at once. It is a show of might for OWS [Occupy Wall Street] and Anonymous. Lots of people are going to do it. Wikipedia. Craigslist. Reddit. Probably not Amazon. Who knows. The tweets are crazy and mashed up and it just looks like a helluva lot of people are shutting down on the 18th.

That last time most people were off not paying attention on the internet, i.e. New Year’s Eve, Barrack Obama signed NDAA [National Defense Authorization Act] into existence.

The shut down of the internet on the 18th is a protest of SOPA [Stop Online Piracy Act]. And PIPA [Protect Intellectual Property Act]. [Yes I know they sound like hobbits what can you do?] These are allegedly anti-piracy laws supposed to protect intellectual properties. Actually they are kind of like the whole indefinite detention thing. If someone accuses you of being associated with terrorists, you can just get thrown in jail with no lawyer and no trial, under NDAA. Under SOPA and PIPA? If someone accuses you of piracy or piracy affiliation, they can shut your website down, bam. All your communications links. Bam. And any website you are affiliated with. BAM!

All it takes is a whisper. *1


No one was watching, on New Year’s Eve – or at least very few people, most people are celebrating on New Year’s Eve, not watching to see if their president throws a fast ball at the Constitution – when Barrack Obama signed away your rights to trial and to face your accusers and to your day in court and also to hello legal defense.

No one will be watching January 18th. They’ll all be on internet silence, in protest. *2


*1: the hollywood 10
*2: probably no one in ows has ever played hard ball with a studio during a strike before, this is exactly how they work: make you think it’s your idea to turn away and then while you have your back to the action strike like a fucking cobra

*mashable has listed websites pledging to blackout on wednesday

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