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TN Senator Bob Corker (Photo from 4/11 Tennessee Medical Association in Nashville)



Senator Bob Corker, Go Daddy and Netflix Under Fire from Reddit

(Part 1 of A 3 part Series)

By John M Disque

Edited By James Howell

12/31/2011

 

 

The “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA), which House Representatives introduced in October, draws a lot of support from major companies, organizations and politicians, but not everyone is happy about the changes.

 

Reddit (a very influential link-sharing, social news website) is completely opposed to the bill and has launched a full-scale campaign against a few of the supporting companies (namely - Netflix and Go-Daddy) and one key political figure – Bob Corker.

 

The result of the campaign against Go Daddy (webhost and internet domain provider) speaks for itself. December 29th was dubbed “Dump Go-Daddy Day” but many customers began withdrawing and transferring their Go Daddy accounts as soon as they got wind of the campaign. So many, in-fact, that the pressure and lost revenue caused Go Daddy to rethink and change their original position.

 

How big is Go Daddy’s presence in DC? Probably a whole lot bigger than you think… Go Daddy has a full time role in government policy development that impacts the Internet. While SOPA was being finalized they were instrumental in recommending changes and fine-tuning the bill.

 

Go Daddy has now publicly stated that they are opposed to SOPA and say the bill is too polarizing. On Thursday, 12/29/11, Warren Adelman said Go Daddy observed a "spike in domain name transfers yesterday,” which the company attributed to Go Daddy's prior support for SOPA. “Our company regrets the loss of any of our customers, who remain our highest priority, and we hope to repair those relationships and win back their business over time."

 

Many people fear that SOPA, and other recent internet-related bills, opens the door for unnecessary lawsuits, unfair online censorship and government control. To make it all more complicated and controversial, many people are suggesting that the very companies supporting SOPA played a vital role in creating and distributing the software used to download copyrighted material.

 

Reddit has now targeted TN Senator - Bob Corker (one of the 39 senators sponsoring the bill) in what they call “Operation Corkscrew.” The fact that Corker is about to run for reelection makes him a vulnerable, prime target.

 

Most of the supporting politicians and companies, as well as those opposed, have no idea what this is about and no idea how the Internet works nor how much money is involved. Many just jump on the bandwagon as soon as they hear the words copyright, infringement and/or piracy.

All of that aside – What’s the true agenda of the people completely opposed to the bill? How much are they making? Have they even read the bill? Are they in the business of making art or stealing it? And, if they understand the internet, what is the true agenda those supporting the bill?

 

This has been part-1 of a 3 part series. In part 2 we will list the supporters of the bill, everything they have to gain and lose as well as the opponents of the bill and everything they have to gain and lose.

 

SOPA can be found here

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Published in East TN News December 31, 2011

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