A tactic used by the Russian government
when officials are
annoyed by some online publications, human rights organizations, or
political opponents is to have the police raid their
headquarters to find their computers running versions of Windows
for which they do not have a license. Based on this illegal use of
software, the police shut them down.

The
Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) would arguably give a similar
power to the U.S. government to censor the internet based on
findings that internet service providers are providing unlicensed
access to copyrighted material. SOPA has provoked strong pushback
from ISPs and users. Now it is rumored that internet titans,
Amazon, Google, Twitter, and Facebook are considering a “nuclear
blackout” as a way to warn Americans of the danger to internet
liberty posed by SOPA. As Charlie Osborne
reports at the iGeneration blog:

Wikipedia was the first
to consider a blackout of their services, in order to
demonstrate what SOPA could potentially do to any website that
allowed user-generated content. Now, a number of sites including
Google, Facebook, Twitter and Amazon are considering coordinated
downtime on their platforms.

Markham Erickson of NetCoalition recently
confirmed that the extreme move was “under consideration”
by the Internet companies. The director commented:

“This type of thing doesn’t happen because companies
typically don’t want to put their users in that position. The
difference is that these bills so fundamentally change the way the
Internet works. People need to understand the effect this
special-interest legislation will have on those who use the
Internet.”

The
“nuclear option” will cause major Internet
service providers to go simultaneously in to the dark
in a coordinated effort to show their displeasure at the proposed
legislation.

Frankly, I wish more companies and industries would refuse to
offer their services as a way to alert their customers to other
government efforts to interfere with peaceful commerce. Given
sufficient warning to customers, an internet blackout day could
generate a magnificent firestorm of public protest against
Congress’ misconceived effort to rein in internet freedom.