If Google wanted to do something visible they just have to flip the search page to a black background. Doesn't affect access to products but people will certainly notice.
Ask HN: Legality of a Jan 18 SOPA blackout on Google?
11–20 of 32 posts
Re: Ask HN: Legality of a Jan 18 SOPA blackout on Google?
#12I really doubt Google would do this, not just because of potential contracts or even the lost revenue but mainly because of how tentative their market share is.
The only thing locking most people into Google search is habit. If Google were to not work for a day, a ton of people would start using Bing and friends; a significant proportion of these would indubitably continue using them forever. Most people don't really care about which engine they use--until it fails. Once it fails, they'll flail around for a bit then use somebody else.
I think the damage to Google's reputation and market share would be too big for them to consider killing search for a day. I could see them doing a doodle or something though.
Re: Ask HN: Legality of a Jan 18 SOPA blackout on Google?
#13They are obviously not going to willingly violate any SLAs. Also the gov't is never going to shut down Google. Their site being offline would not be an accurate preview of any blackouts to come. SOPA is going to cost google money and headaches because they will have to deal with so many upset users. It is our websites that don't have billions of dollars that are actually under threat of being completely shutdown.
They will not get shut down but they will certainly be affected by this in a real and massive way. A non trivial amount(no citation) of their ad revenue comes from the marginal sites that could be shut down by a SOPA intervention. This will affect their bottom line. It makes good business sense to do something about it now instead of later.
Re: Ask HN: Legality of a Jan 18 SOPA blackout on Google?
#14I really doubt Google would do this, not just because of potential contracts or even the lost revenue but mainly because of how tentative their market share is. The only thing locking most people into Google search is habit . If Google were to not work for a day, a ton of people would start using Bing and friends; a significant proportion of these would indubitably continue using them forever. Most people don't reall…
I totally agree. Blacking out is just stupid. Raising awareness via splash page or messaging is effective and important.
Please, let's not be retarded. If things black out one day, it'll just piss people off and the next day it'll be back to normal.
Let's encourage Google / Facebook / Twitter to use their huge audiences to spread awareness of the issue. When the public hears what SOPA is, they will reject it. The only way this thing will pass is if its sneaks in by the special interests.
Stop the blackout talk though
Re: Ask HN: Legality of a Jan 18 SOPA blackout on Google?
#15I was wondering about this, too, if some people won't just sue Google.
People will sue Google anyway. They get sued over indexing embarrassing things that people have inadvertently published all the time.
Re: Ask HN: Legality of a Jan 18 SOPA blackout on Google?
#16They are obviously not going to willingly violate any SLAs. Also the gov't is never going to shut down Google. Their site being offline would not be an accurate preview of any blackouts to come. SOPA is going to cost google money and headaches because they will have to deal with so many upset users. It is our websites that don't have billions of dollars that are actually under threat of being completely shutdown.
> Also the gov't is never going to shut down Google.
Also the CHINESE gov't is never going to shut down Google.
Just adding a little perspective...
Re: Ask HN: Legality of a Jan 18 SOPA blackout on Google?
#17Separate from contractual issues, the cost in terms of lost revenue for Google would be enormous. I suspect Google would have more of a positive effect donating a day's profits to the right organizations/candidates. This 'race-to-imagine-the-most-widespread-blackout' can make people giddy, with thoughts of solidarity and grand symbolic gestures. But giddy is not necessarily effective or lasting. Shoot for an obtrusiv…
a monetary payout to stop SOPA doesn't really work in the long run. It promotes the behavior we have today where the most money wins (usually), and doesn't disincentivize future attempts.
I agree more with the doodle idea, or that every click to a search result brings up a modal dialog with a "contact your congress members" button.
Re: Ask HN: Legality of a Jan 18 SOPA blackout on Google?
#18If Google shut off only it's search in protest of SOPA, wouldn't they run into anti-trust issues? I know technically, there's still Bing, but since they command the majority of the market, isn't this essentially the same as Rockefeller's give oil away for free to harm competition? Now, for sake of argument, the competition could be defined as any web company that happens to be pro-sopa, and Google's shutting down search could be viewed as malicious acts against a competitor ... you see where I'm going with this. IANAL.
Screw SOPA! If we lose this, we lose the internet... and we built the damn thing... each in our own small way.
Re: Ask HN: Legality of a Jan 18 SOPA blackout on Google?
#19I don't think a Google blackout would be a good thing. They already make many Doodles for their home page. They can make one for SOPA to raise awareness.
Re: Ask HN: Legality of a Jan 18 SOPA blackout on Google?
#20I really doubt Google would do this, not just because of potential contracts or even the lost revenue but mainly because of how tentative their market share is. The only thing locking most people into Google search is habit . If Google were to not work for a day, a ton of people would start using Bing and friends; a significant proportion of these would indubitably continue using them forever. Most people don't reall…
I totally agree. Blacking out is just stupid. Raising awareness via splash page or messaging is effective and important. Please, let's not be retarded. If things black out one day, it'll just piss people off and the next day it'll be back to normal. Let's encourage Google / Facebook / Twitter to use their huge audiences to spread awareness of the issue. When the public hears what SOPA is, they will reject it. The onl…
Great perspective on how to adjust the message. Seems that a blackout feels drastic enough to match the outrage we expect from these brands whom we identify with.
If Tumblr got 87k calls to congress, Google or FB or Twitter should generate an order of magnitude more with well placed banners and popups.