The day of the blackout

Today is a significant milestone in the age of the Internet- the first ever Internet blackout was organized by a couple of the major Web players lead by Wikipedia, Reddit, Google and Yahoo. Facebook had a message from Zuckerberg headlining everybody's news feed for a little while. The blackout is to protest two bills that are currently being reviewed by the US Senate and the US Congress (SOPA and PIPA). Both are being promoted as anti-piracy bills but the tag-on language in them has the potential to infringe on our freedom to obtain information. There are a zillion places where you can get details on why this is creating such an uproar.. that's not what caused me to come back to the-shady-friends after such a long hiatus.

The voice of the worker and the man in the 20th century was heard through unions, protests and voting. For the better part of the last 20 years, it appeared that society had decided to let the loudest, the strongest (read the guys with the biggest guns) and the richest people manipulate the world. Last year (2011) was highlighted by three revolutionary events that said- not so fast big People- we matter too! I am referring to the Arab Spring to fight the big Guns, the Tea Party to fight big Government and the Occupy movements to fight big Banks. The success of all three was credited to a large extent to social media and the Internet making the world truly global. The blackout today is simply an extension of those movements- we will now as a people use the Internet to fight for our right to freedom of speech and information.. I think this is our fight against big Lobbyists and big Influence.. Yes- Hollywood- I am talking about you too. 

I want to appreciate the fact that I am living in a period that will be written about and discussed in history books. I think I'd like to take a moment to let the significance of this day sink in.

Dora.. Out.. Woof!