Democratic Underground will go dark at 3am ET January 18 to protest SOPA and PIPA
This discussion thread was locked by Skinner (a host of the Announcements group).
Democratic Underground will go dark for 18 hours on January 18, from 3am ET until 9pm ET, to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). During that time visitors will not be able to read or post on the site. We know that you depend on Democratic Underground to be there for you, and we did not take the decision to join this protest lightly.
Democratic Underground is an open, community-based website that depends on content provided by our visitors. That includes original content created by our members, and excerpts and links to content published elsewhere. Because of the work our members put into their posts here, and also because of our dependence on excerpts and links from elsewhere, we have a deep appreciation for content creators, and we understand the importance of protecting their work. The DU Administrators understand the importance of protecting copyrights -- we have always made a good faith effort to respect copyrights on this site, and we expect our members to do the same.
However, we here at Democratic Underground have first-hand knowledge of what it is like to be unfairly harassed in the name of copyright enforcement. Over the last year we have been a defendant in a high-profile copyright-trolling case in which we were threatened with tens of thousands of dollars of damages and the loss of our domain name, because one of our members posted a brief five-sentence excerpt of an article. The experience has made us extremely sensitive to the issue of out-of-control copyright enforcement, and we feel that we have a responsibility to add our voice to the protests taking place across the Internet.
During the downtime, we hope that you will take a moment and contact your representatives in Congress to let them know that you support an open Internet, and you oppose SOPA and PIPA. You can look up your representatives on the EFF website.
Thank you,
David Allen
Dave Allsopp
Brian Leitner
DU Administrators
= new reply since forum marked as read
Yay DU A- Rah-Rah-Rah!!
and will plan accordingly..... Luddite Day tomorrow...
We'll miss eachother.
You rock!
Count me in!
I wholeheartedly support going dark in solidarity.
Bravo, sirs! Bravo!
You guys rock!
I might actually have a productive day tomorrow. 
...
bad news...now I gotta clean tomorrow. 
in light of how the MPAA is whining about it ... solidarity.
I will totally miss DU, but am willing to suffer for the cause.
but it is an important cause to support. Way to go!
Especially since I just got home from a business trip made a LOT less stressful because I was able to reach DU by Wifi AND "drill down" for advice about local transportation and entertainment from some "natives." I'm also grateful for those of you who made the ninth annual "You Call This NEWS?" awards -- posted on both DU2 and DU3 -- the most viewed ever.
As I understand how SOPA is currently written, ANY kind of linking -- with or without "fair use" excerpts -- could be legally defined as "piracy" or "copyright infringement." And even if that were not the case, SOPA is also devoid of constitutionally guaranteed due process.
So I'll suck it up, dedicate the 18 hours to working on my other projects, and will see you on the other side.
rocktivity
It's the right call I think.
It will be a good time for me to contact my congress critters to complain about SOPA and PIPA.
And maybe while this site is black, I'll get something done around the house.
K and R
up against those that would use SOPA and PIPA as an excuse to stifle free speech.
Total support. Will there be a support group somewhere I can go to?
Don't know if you're familiar with it, but the DU Panic Room has been where members could always get info if DU is down. It's been awhile, but it still looks viable to me...
http://dir.groups.yahoo.com/group/DUPanicRoom/
But it was awfully late. Someone posted the notice that DU was going dark, good idea for those who might not have seen the announcement. I was afraid you might not have seen it in time, but at least we now know it's still active.
I'll miss y'all, even for just a day.
Bravo for taking a principled stand and showing solidarity. The next 18 hours will be tough, though. SG
but in a good way
I hate you. But, my wife thinks you're awesome.
I'll be logging out of here not long after 2:00(Central). Hope this works out for us. 
K&R
DU! *gasp* DU!
Ethics. I like them.
Thanks for walking the talk, Admins
this is a badge of honor - to have been on the side of a free internet - one of THE most worthy causes these days in the way it will shape the entire future - that's what is at stake with SOPA. Bravo DU, Skinner, Elad, and EarlG. This is STILL more important to the future than most people can even comprehend