January 11, 2012 | By Sarah Gooding
You may have noticed the new black button on the WordPress.org website. WordPress has officially posted its opposition to the SOPA/PIPA bills, which are coming up for vote on January 24, 2012.
It’s no surprise that WordPress is making a public stand, as the software powers roughly 15% of the web. Anyone who has anything to do with the internet knows that SOPA drives a severe blow to innovation and freedom of speech.
Not familiar with the bills? Watch this video for a quick overview:
PROTECT IP / SOPA Breaks The Internet from Fight for the Future on Vimeo.
Here’s a quick comparison chart from KeepTheWebOpen.com that breaks down how these bills would be applied:
What can you do?
Your participation really does matter! The boycott of GoDaddy successfully forced them to pull their support of SOPA and PIPA.
Get involved by visiting Stop American Censorship, which lists tons of ways that you can make an impact. Find out how you can get involved locally and take note of where your representatives stand on the matter.
Featured Plugin – Add bottom corner (or anywhere else) chat to your site
Additionally, you can install the Stop SOPA Ribbon plugin on your WordPress-powered site, which links to the American Censorship website. This plugin lets your visitors know where you stand.
Author: Sarah Gooding
Sarah Gooding is a partner at Untame LLC, a boutique digital marketing firm specializing in open source content management systems and social networking architecture. Get in touch with her on Twitter @pollyplummer