Me and Vader, fighting together. Weird.

in Random Crap

Today is the 18th and if I knew how to do it I would shutter the blog for the day.  I don’t know how to do that though and so instead I’m posting a link to this video about why it would go dark for the day if I was tech-savvy enough to be sure that I could ever get it back up again.

Internet piracy is the most unsexy piracy ever, but SOPA and PIPA aren’t the way to stop it.  Internet censorship can hurt us all.

Learn more about today’s strikes here. Or don’t. Totally up to you.

122 thoughts on “Me and Vader, fighting together. Weird.”

Read comments below or add one.

  6. Well said, SOPA is scary, and is about censorship and control, not protecting artists’ rights.

    I too thought about “turning off” my blog for the day, but have not, for two reasons: (1) I am a luddite idiot and don’t know how, and (2) no one comes there for information, hardly anyone comes there at all actually….

  9. When I do blog plug-ins it often crashes my blog and since I’m in NY and not anywhere near my tech suppurt (i.e., Victor) I’m not taking any chances. This seems like a happy medium.

  10. I am laughing at this because my FB comment about “contacting my Rep”, who by the way, is Lamar Smith is turning into CRAZINESS!!!

  11. I would let every word I’ve ever written be pirated before I would allow even one word written by someone else to be censored. I am a writer. I do not say that lightly.

    WordPress makes it easy to participate. Good for you, Jenny, for doing so even when getting it back up again is convoluted as hell. So to speak.

  12. I’ve hard a little about this. I can’t NOT use the internet. And I don’t think it does a thing for stopping piracy. So, no going dark for me!

  13. WordPress offers several plugins that will allow you to join the blackout. There are also javascript codes you can install that will do it. I opted for the latter on both my personal blog and my business blog.

  15. You scared the crap out of me. My first thought was you weren’t going to blog anymore. Sudden intake of breath & quiet read meant I could stop panicking 🙂

  16. Thank you for joining this protest. Your voice is heard by so many, rural farmer to celebrity, that it’s sure to have a great impact! ^_^

  18. I’m blacking out tomorrow, hopefully someone will at least notice! You and Chad rocked it.

  20. I’m about half convinced that people who drafted this SOPA business are trying to get rid of the kind of piracy that involves eye patches and wooden legs. In that vein, I sent my legislator an e-mail with the subject “ARRRRRRRRR you serious about SOPA?” He still hasn’t responded. Bastard.

  21. Thanks for showing your support as you can. I installed the plugin, so here’s to finding out if anything happens…. I think it has a blackout thing at midnight my time, since nothing’s happened yet. But I’m not going to hang around for another hour and a half to find out.

    Anyways, thanks. I know that as a creator and someone who’s married to one of the little guys in the film industry… piracy sucks. But the bills as they’ve been written can only do damage.

  23. I’m sorry, I’m a big fan, but I don’t understand why a blogger would defend copyright theft. With a blog and a couple of websites, I have to spend one afternoon a week to go after the various copyright infringers of the week. That isn’t nearly enough time to do it, but it’s all I can spare. And if the site is overseas, it just adds more and more and more time to the prospect. Copyright pirates have crippled online small businesses of every kind. I’ve seen my own works stolen more times than I could possibly count, and I pay the price for it in SE rankings and earnings.

    Many of my works I’ve simply had to abandon because they were stolen so many times that I just have to move on and try to create something else from scratch. Times are tough. A lot of people have already thrown in the towel because of this issue. I’ve certainly thought about it. Why would anyone be against this legislation?! I absolutely don’t get it.

  27. I couldn’t figure out the temporary blackout either, so I took down my title image and replaced it with a “blackout” message. I’m totally ok with everyone stealing it. Take that SOPA.

  29. My unions, SAG and AFTRA, have been trying to get us money for content we’ve participated in (movies and tv shows) for years. It’s been an uphill battle. It’s not just the content creators looking for money, it’s me and thousands and thousands and thousands of others who normally get paid when our shows play on TV, AIRLINES, (yes, I get paid when Seinfeld sells to airline providers) cable, overseas etc.

    Why am I not paid when some jackass uploads a show I’m in on their puny website?

  30. I hope that they don’t go through. Not a fan of the idea of internet censorship…just doesn’t seem right. Perhaps I’ll join many of my friends and not be on the internet for 24 hours.

  31. I can’t sleep and now all I can think about is how much I would stab a complete stranger in the nuts for a sopapilla.

  33. So glad you joined in getting the message out Jenny. My daughter came home from school in October, livid over this. (She’s 16 btw.) I just kinda rolled my eyes and said, “this isn’t a 3rd world county, that’ll never happen.” So yea, when I saw your message about kitties on spikes and whatnot.. well, it opened my eyes and I got myself informed. Now, I’m livid too. I wrote to my senators and congress people yesterday. All of them in my state that I could, which, equaled 4. Number 5 said “sorry, I’m not in your district”. Psh.. whatevs. Totally not blacking out my blog, cuz, well, nobody sees it but me and maybe 2 or 3 people anyway..lol. And I almost NEVER post. And.. I’m technologically unable to figure out the plug in. This kind of censorship cannot be allowed to happen.

  34. I did something similar. Don’t know how to blackout so posted info on how to protest. I’m a writer who HAS been plagiarised, and sees more of it coming down the tracks. I hate people stealing my work, but SOPA/PIPA is not the answer. The answer is to hold those accountable, like Amazon, who make craploads of money off plagiarised works and do nothing to stop it.

  35. God told me that if they pass SOPA or PIPA he will KILL ALL TEH KITTEHS!

    So, Fight the Man! Do It For Teh Kittehs!

    ~EdT.

  36. I’m glad you didn’t shut this down today because I wouldn’t know where else to go for pictures of zombie monkeys or robot chickens.

    Man. That was close.

  37. Its great that so many bloggers are participating today. Hopefully this will spread the word and get SOPA and PIPA stopped for good.

  39. Wait. What? So I donated to Wikipedia to get those damn beggar’s ads to stop popping up on my screen, and now they’re going dark for the day???? The hell, Wikidiots?????

    And I thought I read somewhere that Obama killed SOPA yesterday? Fuck me, I’m confused.

  40. I’d like to figure it out, too, Jenny – how to black out my sites. In the midst of the seemingly trivial weekly Pinterest-fest, I added Google’s blackout graphic at the end, linked to their “take action” page.

  41. I installed the JavaScript on my blog and it works!! Last time I messed with my code, I had to reinstall my theme and redo everything. It wasn’t pretty.

  42. Great post. I’m going to share the link to that video on my blog as well. I am completely without the skills to black out for the day.

    P.S. You and Vader are awesome.

  43. I’ll just close my eyes and pretend I don’t see you. Just a dark and bleak blank screen.

    This kinda sucks big though.

  45. Frankly knowing who I am and how my brain works, I’m not going to go blackout mostly because I know I’d do something, then a) forget how to undo it or b) forget that I did it and weeks later be like OMG WTF is wrong with my blog…anyway…I pretty much just posted the video too…

    DAMN THE MAN!

    SAVE THE INTERWEBZ!!!

  47. I’m with ya! I’m not smart enough to black out my blog…apparently sarcasm doesn’t work on code…but I put up a “do your research” post. And a puppy. Seriously, a puppy. I must have had you in mind last night.

  48. Glad to see so many other have joined in spirit the organization that I proposed, “Bloggers Who Aren’t Sure They Could Put Their Site Back Up If They Blacked It Out For a Day United.” There’s nothing we can’t accomplish if we’re just barely able to use this technology, together!

  50. You make me happy I have the internet. Anyone who wants to take that away can kiss my ass!

  51. If I had a website I’d go dark today too. I wasn’t happy when I couldn’t get to Wikipedia last night to look up something, but I totally support the killing of both these bills. Someone commented on an article about the black out and said that if America wants to show Hollywood that we won’t let them ruin the internet, we should have a boycott the movies weekend. With two preschoolers in the house, we don’t make it to movies much, but I would certainly get behind boycotting the movies for a weekend. It’s early and I think I need more coffee before I ramble myself into being deleted. 😀

  53. I commend you for protesting! I just hate that this all falls on my birthday! 🙁 *sadness* Let’s hope it being my birthday causes it to get thrown out. 🙂

    On a more serious note: You have power that most people don’t. Your words are read by many, your voice is heard. Thank you for standing up for what you believe in.

    And back to reality: I love your stuff!!! It totally makes my days brighter! 🙂

  54. I thought about going dark but then I bastardized some song lyrics just before midnight last night and put those up on my site instead.

    I’m glad you’re participating, even in your non-tech-savviness!

  57. Trying to separate websites and content into neat little packages is like having a smoking section on an airplane or a peeing section of the pool: not possible. There is always going to be intersection of content, ideas, etc. And small fish in that big pond thrive on that. Well, that, and not peeing in the pond….

  58. I had a lot of trouble too, since i was working from home on an ipad and couldn’t seem to do jackshit with it. So I snuck onto my blog this morning and switched it off. My 24 hours are going to be a little different from everyone elses, since I have to wait until I get back into work tomorrow to fix it.

  59. @L: ” I’ve certainly thought about it. Why would anyone be against this legislation?!” To me, the issue lies in the wording. There are very problematic solutions in the bill. If you’re accused (accused, mind you, not even proven) of copyright infringement then the AG’s office can lean on your ISP, the advertisers on your website, and search engines like Google to: a) block access to your site or b) stop giving you money. They don’t even have to tell you they’re doing it, and your appeal means almost nothing (basically you’re supposed to write your ISP and promise Really Really Really hard you’re not infringing). But what business is going to care/take on that risk? They’ve been given blanket protection to just throw up their hands and say “nope. Not our problem” and never fix or review the decision. It’s the unilateral punishment that I cannot support. And it can and will be abused. It might even happen to you, if you get outlawyered by someone with more money than you.

  60. All my husbands sites have gone dark for today! I am glad to see you doing your part! 🙂

  63. I was petrified to black mine out, too. What if I totally destroyed it? I have NO TECHNOLOGICAL SAVVY. It would be dead forEVER and then who would really suffer? The children, that’s who.

  64. Yeah, I had no idea how to do it either. Fortunately WordPress has smart people working there, smart enough to know the less tech savvy folk (like me) woud need a plugin to do it!!

  65. Please excuse my decidedly unfunny reply to your post, but I have to respond regarding this very serious topic. I am a professional artist who has owned her own online boutique for over 12 years, and both my designs and my articles have been stolen hundreds and hundreds of times. Even as an artist with a tremendous amount of intellectual property to protect, I cannot support any bill that has the potential to be so devastating to the Internet. The SOPA bill is not a “copyright” bill, it is a CENSORSHIP bill. Longlocks.com is participating in the SOPA protest to the best of my technical abilities. Please, those of you who think this is simply a bill that will protect your copyrights, take the time to educate yourselves regarding the devastation that potentially lies beneath the passage of the SOPA and PIPA bills. I now return you to your regularly scheduled hilarity.

  67. If these laws pass, we will see a massive influx of those taking HACKER classes. I’ll be one of them. Prepare yourself government officials. You’ll never feel safe again. Oh, and by the way, I ALWAYS speak with my vote. Sincerely, A Grandmother not worth pissing off. ;}

  68. @L. if you KNOW Jenny like we KNOW (that damn song will be in my head all day) Jenny then you would understand she DOES NOT support piracy or computer theft at all, she just isn’t technically savvy (and either am I ) to make the computer changes. Just sayin’ in defense of Jenny and all of us non-techie people. Our hearts are in the right place, we just can’t pull off the technical steps and then ever have a hope that our computer will be the same afterwards. I also posted a stop piracy SOPA/PIPA announcement on my wall post too. Beyonce and her skinny cousins Mary Kate and Ashley say “You’re Welcome.”

  69. First of all DAMN you SOPA! Secondly, my daughter has the same octupus necklace that you’re wearing in the video. We were in Chicago summer before last and my daughter wore her octupus necklace and she ended up with a sunburn/tan lines with an octupus outline. I laughed. For days.

  70. Wil Wheaton posted about this today, and linked to a page which linked to a page which linked to http://sopastrike.com/, and there I found some javascript code. I just added a javascript gadget on my blog and tada, it redirects to a blackout page for today only. Really easy. 🙂 Not that anyone reads me, but if they try today, they fail.

    I figure if an actor is posting so eloquently about why it’s bad, and he’s in the field that it is supposed to be protecting, then the rest of us really should be worried about it.

  71. to any artists who have commented that online piracy costs you money, we get it. online piracy is a problem that costs many artists time and money – often, time and money that they don’t have. but what sopa/pipa will do won’t solve the problem of online piracy. they’ll just break the internet and censor everyone.

    i’m an artist, too. and without sites like facebook, twitter, youtube, blogger, pinterest, and etsy, i’d never be able to share or sell my art. if sopa/pipa were put into law, those websites may never exist again – or will be so heavily censored that many artists will be unable to use them for sharing/selling their art.

    yes, online piracy is a problem. but would you rather support censorship of art, or get paid? i know we all need to get paid – but the art community cannot support censorship. yes, i’d love to get paid – but i’d prefer to keep the community open, honest, and UNCENSORED BY THE GOVERNMENT.

  73. I do not support piracy but I do support blogging without fear of offending someone with a joke and having them shut me down. I went dark today. I also colored my hair last week so it’s darker too. But that was for my wedding, not for SOPA/PIPA. But if the government asks, it was totally in protest of that dumb bill.

  74. If I make a cover of a song owned by Epic records, they can put up an ad on my vid. Got no problem with that. I still make sure my website name is on the video in a way that is very hard to remove. That way if it’s reposted, I get the exposure. And the song gets exposure, too. Let’s face it. The music I’m doing has been forgotten long ago anyway.

  75. Internet piracy is the most unsexy piracy ever, but SOPA and PIPA aren’t the way to stop it…I’m quoting you when i call my representatives!

  77. Piracy is bad. Censorship is worse. As if the government doesn’t already have enough fingers in everyone’s pies, per se.

    Way to go, Jenny, for putting this out there. And for comparing it to funny porn whilst the ‘rents are at the house, LOL…

  78. That’s the same reason mine didn’t go dark. Typepad didn’t have a widget for it and I wasn’t 100% sure I could get it back up tomorrow.

    Call your senators and representatives, y’all.

  81. And because I don’t know how to turn my blog off, I just posted a link to the video with a little blog-piece.

  83. Watched the video, signed the petition, shared on all the social media sites. Happy news? Check out 4:35 on the video. “Jenny Lawson From the Bloggess and Author of Let’s Pretend This Never Happened” YAY! See, SOPA, if you win I don’t get to have joy and pride for someone I only know through her blog. Way to be the Grinch of the Internets, SOPA. Good job.

  85. What’s this First Amendment thing I keep hearing about? it’s not important, is it?

    This question has been brought to you by Saracasm, a proud supporter of our First Amendment Rights.

  87. To L: Letting something like this pass sets the precedence for what will come next. Censorhip and government control doesn’t just swoop down overnight. It’s done exactly like this, one piece of legislation after the next. Give people some time to get used to it, have people think ‘Yeah…this isn’t so bad…’ and then the next piece of legislation is passed, and the next. Piracy isn’t good, but it’s not the government’s place to control that through censorship because, in my opinion, censorship is worse than piracy. Really though, the ultimate problem is that this opens the doors for more government control and it means that whatever information we see is information the government deemed it appropriate for us to see. That’s a pretty scary thought. Simply by controlling what information we can view through the internet is a way of controlling the people. Think about North Korea…why did the people admire their ‘dear leader’ so much? It’s because the government has complete control over what information they receive. No, I don’t think we’d be at that point, at least not for a long while, but why take that first step?

  88. If this is allowed to happen, everything we’ve come to love about sharing and connecting with other people all over the world, things that have advanced our society and helped us to see things from a more global perspective will cease or be greatly hindered and America will be back in it’s little bubble pretending that the rest of the world does’t pertain to us. Please oppose H.R. 3261

  89. Thanks for the post!! I am so happy to see so many people and websites getting behind the push to stop SOPA and PIPA.

    I was having a discussion on twitter with a friend who is an actress today about it. She is for SOPA because she feels it will help stop movie piracy. Her belief is that it will help her and other actors from having royalties basically taken away from them. While agree with her and other struggling actors trying to catch a break and make a living, I totally disagree with how SOPA and PIPA would handle things.

    I ended up posting a (misspelled, caffeine fueled)rant about it on my FB page, which I then posted on my little horror blog. I would have gone black today, but as it is usually just me, my friends and my family who check it out… I didn’t think it would have quite the impact that Wikipedia or other would have… 😛 haha

  91. I have been in touch with my state reps asking them to stop supporting this horrible, anti-American, freedom-killing legislation. They told me to go to hell in their polite-ish legalese. Assholes.

    Also, I think the reason I have NEVER (I’m 48 years old, vote at every election, and have a valid drivers license. WTF?) been called for jury duty is because I consistently write, call, and e-mail senators and governors and mayors and presidents and federal organizations and television executives and tell them off. They probably have me on some kind of nut job list. Personally, I believe it is my duty as an American citizen to tell the bastards off when they fuck up. Isn’t that what we are supposed to do?

  92. The director of the MPAA said it best:

    It is an irresponsible response and a disservice to people who rely on them for information and use their services. It is also an abuse of power given the freedoms these companies enjoy in the marketplace today. It’s a dangerous and troubling development when the platforms that serve as gateways to information intentionally skew the facts to incite their users in order to further their corporate interests.

    He was talking about his organization and its actions to cram this poorly written legislation down our throats, right?

  93. Being a super in-the-know DC-er (tongue-in-cheek believe me) (wow hyphens are everywhere today) I can tell you that a bunch of the bill’s co-sponsors have dropped off and it no longer looks like it can pass the Senate. Everyone, exhale!

  94. To Star: How is fighting theft censorship? There is money to be made from the theft of others’ works, and the major corporations that profit from your stolen labor are the ones telling people that fighting theft is “censorship.” Actual censorship is telling people that they can’t express themselves, not telling people that they can’t steal from others. Is it censorship that you can’t walk into Target and grab things off the shelf and run? Would you protest to support anyone’s right to do that? I doubt most people would, but they’ve allowed themselves to be told by these corporations that this kind of theft is OK since they make money from it. Don’t be used.

  97. The idea that the American government would actually consider censoring the entire damned internet just in the name of copyright protection is just so wrong! It’s completely against everything I’ve been taught about freedom of speech since I was a little girl and could first comprehend freedom of speech.

  98. I think your approach is better anyway, even if you did have the tech know-how.

    This morning, my It guy (who is also the same guy who is supporting me financially and with whom I am having sex) did something to my site that redirected it to an anti-SOPA site, and I thought “Hell yeah!” and got excited.

    But then I thought “Oh shit! Now, no one can even SEE my blog at all and this was probably the very day I was going to be discovered and made famous, and now it won’t happen because of this pervasive blackness, and I will have to keep working for money, forever and ever.”

    I blame SOPA. Or PIPA. Whatever. Because of that shit now I’ll have to work forever and my site is probably broken now.

    I totally should’ve gone with Darth Vader. Totally.

  99. I linked to your post, the youtube video and other sites regarding SOPA on my little Canadian blog to help. Here’s hoping for wise Congressmen…….

  103. First they take your freedom of speech, then they make you feel dumb for wanting the right to bare arms. I happen to like sleeveless dresses.

    SOPA sucks.

    California peeps – please make calls letting these ladies know you oppose:
    Barbra Boxer (D, CA) – (510) 286-8537
    Diane Feinstein (D, CA) – (415) 393-0707

    (sorry to post this on your blog comments, jenny dearest – but i know you get a ton of readers.)

  111. I don’t know if anyone mentioned this yet, but something like SOPA could be useful for stopping art thieves. (People taking art and selling it as their own, putting it up on other websites without citing a.k.a. absolute tools) Not SOPA of course, they clearly didn’t think it out well and fucked everything up. Something like it, but not so easy to shut down a website without actually checking to see if they are stealing. And maybe some smart people too…

  112. SOPA and PIPA are nuclear bomb solutions to a problem that needs a precision bombing solution. Which makes sense as most members of Congress are too busy campaigning and raising money to worry about fallout.

    In other news, did you see Wil Wheaton on the newest episode of “Leverage” on TNT on Sunday? It was the season finale and he was so cute and nerdy badass.

  113. Am I the only one who is deep-down afraid that I might be the REASON that Congress douched-up and proposed this bill? Like some Senator from somewhere found my blog by Googling, “grocery sack of human feces,” and decided no one should have to look at my blog EVER? Sorry, America. My bad.

  115. Does it count for going dark if your blog goes black because you changed a stupid code? I’m still learning my around the whole programming thing much less causing it to go black on purpose. That being said….I hope someone gains common sense and rejects this thing. Grrrr!

  116. I have no idea how to black out my blog for the day, but I would if I could.

    Solidarity brothers…er sisters… Pretty much everyone but Congress and media people. 😉

  117. We need to make sure that we stay in control with what we see and do on the internet. This makes us look like we’re going to be China or Iraq…

  118. I am totally against censorship and piracy. These two are not mutually exclusive.
    I just finished the book “The Filter Bubble” though, so I must admit to being a little suspicious of Facebook’s and Google’s response (among others). Their vision for the internet is scary as well.

  120. There’s about a dozen plugins to make yer bloggy go dark. LOL There is also one that will add a black “stop censorship” ribbon on the top right corner of your blog. 🙂

    Along with SOPA and PIPA, SB 1867 needs to be repealed. Except for the repeal of DADT. That should stay. But all the rest, like anyone speaking out against the gov’t can be executed without due process and the whole legalizing bestiality for soldiers needs to go. I mean it basically sanctions the rape of poor, defenseless animals. How can that be OK with anyone? Oh and the whole firing squad on American citizens part. Yeah. That BLOWS.

  122. made some anti censorship tee’s on the site if you guys wanna check em out. also… preordered the book and siked to get my von schnitzel portrait.

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