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Why Google And Facebook Need To Go Dark To Protest SOPA

forbes.com

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Re: Why Google And Facebook Need To Go Dark To Protest SOPA

#31

Post by burgerbrain »

ericb wrote: post #3

While this would make a statement, somewhere I saw a good point--someone will be googling to see if the snake that bit them was poisonous. Google is now critical infrastructure, like power. If it goes out, people will quite possibly die.

I don't think that is a particularly good point.

If a snake bites you, and you are not sure if it is poisonous or not, assume that it is and go to the hospital. Life or death health issues should not be googled, they should be taken care of by professionals.

Re: Why Google And Facebook Need To Go Dark To Protest SOPA

#32

Post by ericb »

coderdude wrote: post #14
ericb wrote: post #3

While this would make a statement, somewhere I saw a good point--someone will be googling to see if the snake that bit them was poisonous. Google is now critical infrastructure, like power. If it goes out, people will quite possibly die.

Sounds an awful lot like "too big to fail" rhetoric.

Really? I google medical conditions frequently. I think this is common practice. I have also met a good number of folks (mostly older) who know only of google search engine-wise. Some of them are unsure what input field to type in at times.

Comparing critical services to political slogans is mentally lazy. Yes, the power grid in my city is "too big too fail" this winter--because people can and do die when that happens.

Re: Why Google And Facebook Need To Go Dark To Protest SOPA

#33

Post by pavel_lishin »

krschultz wrote: post #5

I don't think Google & Facebook need to go dark to achieve this. Going dark is not something either company would do - the cost is enormous and it would draw real ire from politicians. But Google simply changing it's logo for a day would be enough to magnify the publicity around this issue. That doesn't impact their users or their bottom line, but it gets the job done.

> Going dark is not something either company would do

Until someone decides that they're hosting infringing content, of course.

Re: Why Google And Facebook Need To Go Dark To Protest SOPA

#34

Post by 27182818284 »

calbear81 wrote: post #30

I've been following the SOPA issue on the periphery and I agree there needs to be more awareness and publicity around it but I don't find a blackout to be the most effective way of defeating this legislation. Reddit is fine because they don't have that much money to lose by going dark for a day but we know clearly that money has a big influence on the outcome of elections and political races. Why not take the revenue…

>much money to lose by going dark for a day

Google doesn't need to blackout and stop service, they just could change their homepage's logo to have a black censored bar across it and that is all it would take.

Re: Why Google And Facebook Need To Go Dark To Protest SOPA

#35

Post by Achshar »

wyck wrote: post #29

What about large user based content sites? Wordpress and Tumblr account for millions of post/day.

But they are divided into individual users and the space belongs to the users and not tumblr/wordpress. I don't think changing other's blogs would be a very good idea and will be frowned upon.

Re: Why Google And Facebook Need To Go Dark To Protest SOPA

#36

Post by ericb »

burgerbrain wrote: post #31
ericb wrote: post #3

While this would make a statement, somewhere I saw a good point--someone will be googling to see if the snake that bit them was poisonous. Google is now critical infrastructure, like power. If it goes out, people will quite possibly die.

I don't think that is a particularly good point. If a snake bites you, and you are not sure if it is poisonous or not, assume that it is and go to the hospital . Life or death health issues should not be googled, they should be taken care of by professionals.

OK, lets use our imagination.

How about heart attack symptoms? Directions to the hospital? The phone number for your doctor (on his website, which you find by googling). How to safely use a chainsaw. What do when your toddler stops breathing. How to perform CPR. Drug contraindications. Where to call in a gas leak.

Re: Why Google And Facebook Need To Go Dark To Protest SOPA

#37

Post by chc »

jonnathanson wrote: post #22

Google might be well served by some sort of partial blackout on its home page, but Facebook would need to get more creative -- and, dare I say it, more social. A blackout of any kind on Facebook would create a minor to major annoyance for an audience that we can presume is largely ignorant to apathetic about SOPA. If, instead, Facebook released profile widget of some sort -- say, a standardized black box as one's def…

I'm a lot confused. Are you saying that people wouldn't notice if you replaced the whole Facebook site with a protest message, but if you offer a protest widget to "an audience that we can presume is largely ignorant to apathetic about SOPA", it will spread like wildfire? That doesn't make any sense to me.

Re: Why Google And Facebook Need To Go Dark To Protest SOPA

#38

Post by ericb »

josefresco wrote: post #26
ericb wrote: post #3

While this would make a statement, somewhere I saw a good point--someone will be googling to see if the snake that bit them was poisonous. Google is now critical infrastructure, like power. If it goes out, people will quite possibly die.

How long does it take to see that Google is down and switch to Bing? It adds 5-10 seconds to your search which if you factor in the resulting time it takes for you to read the article seems minimal. Also the thought of using Google to literally "save your life" from a snake bite is a whole separate argument.

For you, or for my elderly neighbor, who just has a bookmarked google page and knows of nothing else?

Note: This is actually true--I "fixed their computer" recently.

Re: Why Google And Facebook Need To Go Dark To Protest SOPA

#39

Post by Stwerner »

avree wrote: post #27
jonnathanson wrote: post #22

Google might be well served by some sort of partial blackout on its home page, but Facebook would need to get more creative -- and, dare I say it, more social. A blackout of any kind on Facebook would create a minor to major annoyance for an audience that we can presume is largely ignorant to apathetic about SOPA. If, instead, Facebook released profile widget of some sort -- say, a standardized black box as one's def…

Agreed. Something similar to http://www.blackoutsopa.org/ would be most effective for spreading awareness on Facebook.

Good idea. Changing my profile picture to the STOP SOPA one right now.

Re: Why Google And Facebook Need To Go Dark To Protest SOPA

#40

Post by schrototo »

ericb wrote: post #3

While this would make a statement, somewhere I saw a good point--someone will be googling to see if the snake that bit them was poisonous. Google is now critical infrastructure, like power. If it goes out, people will quite possibly die.

That's utterly ludicrous.
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