Conlangery will be “blacked out” on Wed, January 18th in opposition to SOPA (HB3261: Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (SB968: Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011, aka PROTECT IP). Behind those bureaucratic congressional names are two bills that could seriously damage the workings of the Internet. As such, we have decided to join the protest against it.
The “blackout” will not actually shut off the site. Instead, if you visit the website, you will receive a splash page with links to anti-SOPA sites as well as a way to click on through to our site. Conlangery isn’t such a big megaphone, but I hope it will make some impact.
Adam Heurlin
As a web designer and fellow conlanger, whose career is dependent on the existence of a free and open web, I feel a need to thank you for your support of that very concept. I may not be based in the US, but SOPA and PIPA could easily affect the internet on a global scale.
admin
Thank you. In fact, not many people talk about this, but SOPA does specifically target foreign sites in some of its provisions. A few have called it “The Great Firewall of America” for that. Regardless, it’s a terrible law, and I felt I should participate somehow.