Imagine an internet where access to the free flow of information is strictly controlled by government and their corporate partners.
It might look a little something like Wikipedia today:
Multiple sites have gone ‘Dark’ today in protest of two bills in Congress that are designed to stop copyright infringement. Those bills are the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA).
Wikipedia today blacked out the U.S. version of its website in protest and Google has blacked out the logo on its homepage and linked to a page that allows users to sign a petition against the two acts.
Source: The Daily Sheeple
Google Protest:
Craigslist Goes Dark:
This isn’t the first time that web innovators and leaders have taken their web sites dark. Congress tried a similar ban on freedom of information in the 1990’s, when thousands of web masters of online companies large and small took part in “Black Thursday” :
On February 1, 1996, U.S. Congress passed the Telecommunications Act, a telecommunications reform bill containing the Communications Decency Act. Timed to coincide with President Bill Clinton’s signing of the bill on February 8, 1996, a large number of web sites had their background color turned to black for 48 hours to protest the Communications Decency Act’s curtailment of free speech. The Turn the Web Black protest, also called Black Thursday, was led by the Voters Telecommunications Watch and paralleled the Blue Ribbon Online Free Speech Campaign run by the Electronic Frontier Foundation. Thousands of websites, including a number of major ones, joined in the protest. The campaign was noted by major media such as the CNN, TIME magazine and The New York Times.
The Communications Decency Act which gave rise to the protest was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court on June 26, 1997.
Source: Wikipedia (Accessed via cached historical pages, as Wikipedia has gone dark as of today)
Earlier this week we noted that President Obama has officially threatened to veto the legislation, and Congressional members are starting to back off, with reports suggesting that the Stop Online Privacy Act has been shelved indefinitely.
Thus far it looks like internet protests from users and well known online companies have been successful in killing, or at the very least, stalling the legislation.
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Many of the sites we go to on a daily basis are dark now…not just the big names…
STOP SOPA NOW!
TotalCollapse.com
I was trying to just watch the news clip and it keeps on trying to ” buffer” every 2 or 3 seconds . This is bologna, we are being pretty much shut out no matter what we do . But I will not as I say. NOT give my , our freedoms to be safer i would rather take a risk then not fight for All of US .
The Government will still shut it down when needed. Just remember O’bammmy also said he would veto the NDAA as well. Do not even begin to believe he will veto!
Congress and the Powers That Be will get what they want no matter what. Doesn’t matter who is in office.
ET: Yes, I totally agree. This is just a proposed “shelving” of the SOPA/PIPA acts, NOT a “never-gonna-happen,” which tells me that even if they don’t pass it next week, they will just dust it off and make it even worse and pass it some time down the road when people are distracted by something else like a false flag event, as America doesn’t seem to be able to focus on two different issues at the same time.
This country is just a huge boulder rolling down a mountain (of fascism and dictatorship) and nothing will stop it until WWIII plays itself out and this generation changes what it is doing. During WWII, today’s preppers would have been the ones who fled Germany before the first shot was fired — because they knew what was coming — but we stay because we know what will be needed.
They don’t need a law to turn off the internet now. They can just shut it down for our own good.
Interesting article for the daily crux about gov’t comparisons from around the world.
http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2012/01/an-objective-comparison-of-the-u-s-to-regimes-that-everyone-labels-repressive.html
You unlock this door with the key of imagination. Beyond it is another dimension – a dimension of sound, a
dimension of sight, a dimension of mind. You’re moving into a land of both shadow and substance, of things and ideas. You’ve just crossed over into Mac’s World!”
We hope you brought your bug out bag, because once you cross over there’s no going back!
Mamma, I’m coming home.
Show me the way to go home / I’m tired and I want to go to bed… I had a little drink about an hour ago and it got right to my head / Wherever I may roam / by land or sea or foam…
Am I invited to family holiday dinners?
Mac’s own Hotel California…lol…
They stab it with their steely knives but they just can’t kill the beast!!!
You can check out but you can never leave…
…I learned a thing or two from charley dontcha know…ya better stay away from copperhead road!
This is not the country my grandfather and my father fought for any longer….this is a nanny state.
check out craigslist 🙂
BJ, thanks for the update. I added their screenshot to the post.
I can go to google and nothing is blacked out nor does it re direct you to another site????
If you’re logged in to a Google acct (Youtube, etc.) you may be seeing your personal theme (even if it is default). i had to log-out to see the full blacked out logo.
didn’t think of that
Yes. I spend huge amounts of time in my google account. (I work out of it…) and if you’re logged in, no blackout but if you’re not, blackout. Your suspicions are correct.
3 bottles of Potassium Iodate pills (90 per bottle) and a 20 dollar voucher to Mypatriotsupply.com for $46 bucks at markdown.com till they sell out.
Gamma Seal lids on sale at emergency essentials….$6.49 !!
KEEP PREPPIN’
Mac,
Are you joining in the blackout?
It would only seem logical for you to show your support.
Good question and something I considered doing. My reasoning for not blacking out shtfplan today is that our users are well aware of what’s going on and have been for quite some time, whereas I am not so sure about most Internet users visiting sites like Wikipedia or google… The purpose of the blackout is to raise awareness, and I think that from shtfplan’s standpoint it is better served by leaving the site up and running so that visitors can read past reports on SOPA, as well as other legislation currently in progress ( like the enemey expatriation act), and so that we can engage in discussion about these issues.
That, and from the report we ran a couple of days ago, SOPA looks to have been shelved for now.
No, it’s not.
http://judiciary.house.gov/news/01172012.html
So, you think the information you provide is more important than showing your support to stop this act?
Yes, it is. The boycots are meant to wake people up. If u are reading this site, odds are that you are already awake or at least most of the way there.
I guess maybe I just have a different way of showing my support for stopping this act.
Thanks for the link to the Judiciary press release.. Lamar Smith is still fighting for it, but from reports over the last few days it looks like, in its current form, the bill is falling apart. The President has officially threatened to veto and it is losing support in Congress, from what I understand.
Still:
““Due to the Republican and Democratic retreats taking place over the next two weeks, markup of the Stop Online Piracy Act is expected to resume in February. ”
It looks like they won’t give up so easily… Way too much money involved from the perspective of the media companies pushing for this (though I think they are misguided if they think SOPA will allow them to take control of the information on the web – I think it may well have the opposite effect in the long-term).
Mac shows his support every day with the articles and links he provides. If someone is coming here, they already know what the tyrants are about. Keep Posting Mac, you have my support!!!
rainyday,
Protests are for raising awareness, Boycotts are to show those “in charge” your support for the cause.
” I think it may well have the opposite effect in the long-term”
I agree, the harder they stamp their boot down the further underground they will push it. It will spawn a new generation of tools to allow easier access to Tor/onion networks.
@Stop SOPA
U may be right but really its just semantics. If 500,000 tea partyers in washington dc didn’t get thier attention how will this. There are occupy wallstreet protests all over the friggin nation and i’ll bet all those pieces of s**t do is sit back and laugh thier heads off at all those naive protesters.
Stop SOPA,
The crowd here already knows. The blackouts are for the sheople. Probably most in here are at least aware and at most are participating in coordination of getting the word out. Your criticism of Mac is appreciated but misplaced.
I would say, to your question above: “Yes. His articles and our discussions serve more than a black block shoved somewhere over the site. Though, maybe it would catch a few, Mac. Just drop a black block over the SHTFPlan.com logo to show support. Maybe with white letters within saying “STOP SOPA”. It would help with the casual net surfer.
Just a suggestion. After all, you’re already on all the best lists anyway!
😀
-NR
Mac, one doesn’t rally the troops when they are already in the battle. This site has been in the battle (thanks to you) and awake. It’s the other sites that need to wake up and where have they (other sites,etc..) been when you have been providing the wake up material?
Keeping this site from being blacked out is the support, you’re providing updates (play by play analysis). Keep it going and thanks Mac.
Thanks DRD. I truly appreciate your kinds words.
DRD: Many here, maybe most, are not in the battle. They are awake and aware but they are not engaged; except in self preservation.
While that is a useful exercise, it is not enough to make a difference, and in the end it will not be enough to save themselves and their families.
There isn’t a day that has gone by in the last year and a half that someone “awake” and “aware” here, hasn’t posted the propaganda of the NWO PTB that WE should “copout”, dropout, and disengage, like THAT would get US a damn thing. maybe they are an agent of the PTB trying to spread despair and defeatism.
Giving up isn’t getting it done.
That attitude is precisely the reason WE are where WE are at. We have allowed OUR Constitution to be eroded. We have allowed OUR liberties to be trashed. We have allowed OUR economy to be stolen.
Prepping is useful but it will not change anything.
Change is augmented by the masses on the street and at the ballot box. You can bet real money that when 500,000 people massed in the street the PTB were not laughing their ass off but shaking in their boots, wondering if the mob was coming for them next.
And when OWS stormed the Port of SF you can bet your ass the PTB was afraid that this action might lead to an American Gadansk.
Prep all you like people, but if you do not organize and empower a formal RESISTANCE at a local level all across America, you and your family will be fodder for the NWO.
“Bloom” where you are at. Organize. Engage.
Interesting, our gov’t has been in the dark for many years now and has obviously boycotted the American people. Will boycotting really help or just stall them till they find another way to enact their unconstitutional laws? Though, I do agree with the statement ‘ sometimes the best defense is a good offense’.
We the people need to be more proactive in rejecting the garabage coming out of DC. Hopefully the individual states won’t shrink from fighting the fed on a number of items;i.e. health care.
Remember, the war in afgan and Iraq was a test that included state’s national guard, inorder to weaken the individual states (financially). How? The check is in the mail.
I accept postal money orders only if paper. No other I.O.U.’s.
Harry, though you got a thumbs down from someone, I appreciate your sense of humor sir. Especially no other I.O.U.’s.
The internet may well be where people draw the line for the Banksters to cross.
Perhaps we should start campaign now where people can join in a pledge to take up arms against the corp if the internet is shut down or censored in any way, or for any reason.
The war starts officially when the People are deprived of communication. Right now, the battle is to get people on your side for when the war starts. The corp is losing that battle as the internet educates many people about the fraud going on.
It should be clear to those would think of doing such things as shutting down the internet under color of law that their efforts will be paid for with their own blood and that of their Bankster friends.
That would be a message they could understand.
Separated at birth, brother, we were.
Blackouts, protests..what good are they? The filth in CONgress will do whatever the highest bidder tells them to do. Ponder this; we all know these rats in office will do whatever they can to save their asses and with CONgress’ approval rating at what…9% or less, it doesn’t look like the scum are trying to save their asses anymore. To me it looks like we are headed for martial law. We are all gonna get it up the ass but they are slipping it in an inch at a time so we may not notice. We can do all the bitching we want on these truth websites and it won’t change a thing. Until we all load up and head to the District of Cocksuckers, we can all just learn to accept whatever the scum want to do to us. Sorry for the strong language this morning but I have had enough. There is NEVER any good news anymore and even though I surely do appreciate and am proud to know there are patriotic people left in this country, being paper tigers isn’t working. We all have skin in this game, namely our children! Do we really want to hand them this sinking ship? Every father wants their children to have a better life than he had, but it doesn’t seem possible anymore does it? We are facing a giant beast that will take on all comers, but that is no excuse to tuck tail and run. What the hell is it going to take to motivate people to get this country out of the hands of the filth that run it? A man alone is easy prey. No one can do anything about it alone. We can only hope that Ron Paul gets elected. But what if he doesn’t? What will we do then? Until we stand up we had better decide how we like our government buttfucking.
the above is one sorry post.
Whats the matter chickenshit? Truth hurt? Now go be a good little slave and lick some boots.
CR,
I disagree. While the content may not be majestic, what it truly is is a post that is venting a lot of frustration. Sometimes the frustration doesn’t come out all pretty.
BRW,
I’m with you, however, we have to pick our battles. You’re engaging in a little sabre rattling to relieve some of the pressure. I don’t mean sabre rattling like you don’t mean it but sabre rattling like you’re rattling it just to make sure its loose and ready to draw. …and I hope we don’t have to.
Many would love to do just as you say above, however, at the moment its not practical. Will it be, someday? Maybe. We will know the time.
Also, many feel frustrated because they don’t understand what is *REALLY* going on. They don’t understand the corporate structure, the relationship to “persons” and the color of law under which it operates.
You need to find out more about what you are, who you are and what your children are. Once you understand that the urgency passes. Frankly, I now have an attitude of, “Screw them!” They may say they can take your freedom and rights away, but, they really can’t. They just say they can. The anger and frustration I used to feel are JUST GONE! Why? Because in my heart I know that there is no dishonor in disobeying them!!! …and I can be as sneaky about it as I want. Can they detain me? Yes. Can they fine me? Maybe. But, I work against them because it is my honor and duty do to so.
“Under common law, I do not consent and I waive the benefits.”
I look at the cops and just laugh. …and I tell them things and they don’t refute me. …and they invite me to sniper training. …and I educate them. Some are VERY receptive. Some are not.
It is all *VERY* satisfying. I share in your frustration, however, it is being channeled. Instead of coming out in an angry post, a very justified one I might add, it comes out in really devilish ways to trip them up. Now, instead of being nervous about getting pulled over, when the cops come up behind me after I run a stop sign on a totally vacant street I’m muttering, under my breath, “Read the sticker you pirate. Thats right! Now PULL ME OVER! Hey! Where going buddy? Damn.”
I know they see me. I know they see that I will not consent. They know I’m not easy pickin’s and they just don’t want the hassle.
Know who you are.
Know what they are.
Its a war. You thought they won. They didn’t. They *CAN’T* win! You always have the upper hand. They may fight you and the battle rages on but they can never really win. But, they have brainwashed 99% of American into believe they won and so we must submit or its a dishonor.
If Ron Paul doesn’t get elected, we’ll deal with it. There may come a time when we need to lock and load. That time is not now. SDBSR. (Stand Down But Stand Ready)
Amen!
what can we do about all of this,is their hope?
If SOPA succeeds it should be the final line of oppression that our bankster-owned government dare to cross.
If our phones are tapped, our sky is full of drones, our police all look like up-armored props in a video game, a marxist/socialist sits in the WH, you can’t move freely without encountering a VIPR roadblock or getting humiliated by an airport screener, our money is devalued, our taxes are increased, our healthcare options are hijacked etc. etc.
They can’t possibly think they can take away our freedom of information/speech on the internet as well can they???
Death N Taxes: You have more faith in our citizens awareness than I do. Most in this country have allowed everything you listed to happen without any resistance, why wouldn’t they give up free speech as well. Did anyone raise hell when the RICO act was used against MC clubs? No, 1% clubs are fringe elements in society. Most applauded when cops beat the hell out of some OWS protester. Those kids could be considered fringe elements.
Who is next in the crosshairs? I think it is people that are stockpiling and prepping. Doesn’t matter if it is weapons, food, animals.
Things will get infinately worse before people rise up. Some people seem to be at their breaking point right now. I would advise you to calm down and get your mind right for alot worse to come. I can envision it getting bad enough that anyone who knows our mindset or has knowledge of our preperations turning us over to the authorities.
Before sheep realize what has been done to them, they will have lost every freedom they ever had the illusion of possessing. Then they will sit back and wonder how it went that far without their knowledge? Answer is complacency.
Regretfully my friend they do…and if they can they will…
when Yugoslavia collapsed into the Balkan war in the 90’s, when the God-dammed Bolsheviks overthrew Russia’s czar in 1917, and when America’s farmer/patriots met the British on Lexington Green in the first battle of our glorious revolution…..there wasn’t any pre-planned coordination or internet to make it happen; people were just so fed-up that theyspontaneously did what came naturally when the powers that oppress finally crossed the final line.
The idiots who control the idiots whom we “elect” to (ahem) “represent” us in congress are so removed from the stress and anger of the common man, that I have no doubt they will eventually push us all so far that even the successful and seemingly “secure” among us will see no other way but to take up arms against our leadership.
How else can this end save us all voluntarily returning to indentured servitude, slavery and peonism which no American would accept?
FEMA Camp Sedation Care – wake up to a new life.
The free market at work. Kudos to these companies for their efforts.
ONCE THEY SHUT OFF THE JUICE TO THE INET.. I PLAN TO USE “SMOKE SIGNALS”
How
Just another step in the Gov’t plan on completly voiding the Constitution… Who are these people? As I don’t believe they are Americans. Controlling any means of the people to organize, and the freedom of speech.. Where is Paul Revere when we need him.. Better get a horse.
The gov’t coming, the gov’t coming!
When the NDAA is enforced on someone, does anyone believe it will be made public news? No, they will censor their actions.. It will be kept very quiet.. As we all know the media is already under their control
I worry that this bill will dissappear only to come back in a different name attached to the defense bill. The gov’t will look at certain websites as inflamitory and therefore for everyone’s safety they will have a unit of government watch over those particular sites and shut them down if it is decided they are dangerous. It is also a perfect way to show the sheep that they need the ndaa act.
Senator Joe LIEberman (Likud-CT)has been desperate for a long time to get an “Internet Kill Switch” into place. Controlling the flow of information under the pretext of “defending copyright” is a cheap and easy expedient for our would-be masters who would keep us dumb, blind and disorganized. It is reminiscent of the transparent attempts of Senator Charles Schumer (Likud-NY) to circumvent the Second Amendment by instituting exorbitant “arsenal” taxes on ammunition purchases to make using a firearm unaffordable to the average “goy.”
THEY think their victims are so stupid that nobody notices WHAT they are doing and — much more importantly — WHO is doing it.
If and when the internet finally does get “switched off,” that will be a signal that the roundups are underway and actual military operations against the people have begun. In the meantime, look for the tried and true “fair use” doctrine to fall by the wayside and for politically incorrect websites that quote or link to other content to be cut down en masse, like blades of grass.
We’ll still have FOX News, though.
Our dependence on the internet is beyond scary. I myself would be out of a job if the internet went down. I’m thankful for it and the information I can acquire instantly at a whim. I’m aware that things can happen to prevent us from accessing the web such as Hackers with viruses, solar flares, natural disasters, and gov. kill-switch…and as unlikely as any of these are to happen, what-if? 25 years ago we were nowhere near the dependence we are now, we wanted it, demanded it, fast, convenient, now we are reliant. We’re probably more reliant on the internet than we are on oil. I’m against SOPA, but it’s probably one of many scapegoats that they’ll use to flip the switch. People without internet will go into detox like a heroine addict without their fix.
We can live without the internet. Millions are going to die when the oil tap starts creaking shut.
Here is a link with a complete list of all sites participating in the SOPA Blackout… http://sopastrike.com/
Thanks Ed!
Mr. Thomas, sir, YOU ROCK!
Mac,
Remember the bulletin boards of the 80’s. We will need a telephone number to call after the internet shuts down. Dust off those old dialup modems.
I still have ww4 (world war 4) bbs software somewhere on a floppy disk… If the Internet goes down and dial up still works then we could always setup a ww4 forum to chat and play Tradewars for entertainment… Ahhh the good ol days…
That’s what the people of Egypt did, Mac. They resorted to a traditional modem and BBS when their government shut off web access. Looks like there’s still a use for those old dialup modems after all.
But no protests against NDAA.
Sad.
Don’t turn of my pr0n, please…
Craigslist is full of shite. They rolled over to pressure from state Attorney Generals to remove (censor) their sex ads without even putting up a fight. Guns are also a forbidden subject (censored) on Craigslist.
Wikipedia supports the official 9-11 lie and the global warming lie. Granted it’s a useful site, but they’re hardly a beacon of truth. It’s mob rule on Wikipedia, and dissenters who are in the minority are silenced.
Google (which owns YouTube) is the worst privacy offender of them all and YouTube is full of censorship.
Please don’t confuse corporate self-preservation for love of free speech.
FUNNY SHITE
Some websites that pledged to go offline in protest on Wednesday really didn’t.
black outs give them what they want. hope we find a better way to stop these bills than doing self black outs.
I agree Rachel.
Fuck you all Congress….you all suck. Stay out of our lives you fucking pricks!
Been reading Goldstein, an e-book about a future dystopic America where everything is illegal, government is involved in every aspect of people lives, and everything is monitored. This legislation plays right into such a future.
http://goldsteinrepublic.com/about-the-book
That’s a great e-book and an easy and quick read.
Agree, Indivisible was also very good, particularly the play by play description of the first moments after the collapse.
Thanks, Mac
I should have mentioned Indivisible too! I agree, It was a heck of a read, especially the meltdown, and the government’s emergency response procedures to deal with the food and energy crisis.
We have a US govt that is out of control, and drunk on power. As below. Don’t worry, these guys will be back later in the year with a new name. There’s BIG money, and BIG power behind this. Interestingly, the website for the author of the SOPA bill, Rep. Lamar Smith, was using illegal art according to his own legislation http://netrightdaily.com/2012/01/sopa-bill-author-lamar-smith-is-a-copyright-violator/
Ignoring, momentarily, that the U.S. has already adopted international law which seeks to curtail online piracy (see, e.g., DMCA), and that these new bills seek to do little more than enact what amounts to police powers over foreign companies, it looks like the studies cited in support of piracy-gone-rampant may have never have existed. Julian Sanchez, a researcher at the Cato Institute, did his level best at tracking down the research behind the near-absurd numbers (the industry claims nearly $250B lost in revenues a year, and 750,000 lost jobs), but instead found only circular references.
So then, you may be asking yourself: how much does piracy actually cost the entertainment industry? $89MM. What’s the U.S. Taxpayer cost to enact new legislation (SOPA)? $47MM, by Sanchez’s estimates. That’s 52.8 cents of U.S. Taxpayer money spent for every dollar in private enterprise saved, if the system works (which it won’t), when there already likely exists a private remedy (private action in the host country).
From the GAO: “First, a number of industry, media, and government publications have cited an FBI estimate that U.S. businesses lose $200-$250 billion to counterfeiting on an annual basis. This estimate was contained in a 2002 FBI press release, but FBI officials told us that it has no record of source data or methodology for generating the estimate and that it cannot be corroborated.
Second, a 2002 CBP press release contained an estimate that U.S. businesses and industries lose $200 billion a year in revenue and 750,000 jobs due to counterfeits of merchandise. However, a CBP official stated that these figures are of uncertain origin, have been discredited, and are no longer used by CBP. A March 2009 CBP internal memo was circulated to inform staff not to use the figures. However, another entity within DHS continues to use them.”
See Kevin Fogerty’s piece at IT World for details on teh above. http://www.itworld.com/security/242587/best-evidence-showing-we-need-sopa-based-govt-studies-never-existed
All that has to happen is for foreign governments that are currently addicted to dollars to stop using them.
It will all fall apart and return to normal if we can shut down the federal reserve. Every wonder why Ron Paul stopped pushing the end the fed stuff? Because, it turned off too many people because they brainwashed the public into believing it would absolutely kill America. Now he talks about an audit. To audit the fed is to kill it. But, an audit sounds good to the people because it would expose crime. But, if you expose crime and stop crime then you will, effectively, end the fed.
Just end the fed. All this will be taken care of in about 1 year after the fed goes dark. The blackout is a good idea, however, it won’t cure that many problems. Electing Ron Paul would cure much more. Lets do both!
Take the machine apart. Bolt by bolt, if not, just tear it the fuck down. Sun Tzu:”What cannot be done by force,must be done by strategy..and vice verca” Art of War
It pisses me up how a commercial tells us to tell our congress to stop internet piracy. The low life cock suckers in washington wont do anything to stop China from steeling our intellectual property. They have the balls to fuck over the American citizens before they’ll stand up for them against the real thieves!
or sorry I should have said another set of theieves just like them