[maximusprime]

Please can we at least try to ensure HN doesn't go the way of Reddit?

I'm against SOPA as much as the next guy, but it's a moot issue. Browsers will just release new versions that use alternate DNS systems or get past any 'blocks'.

There's nothing uglier than an internet hate/protest mob.

[jbrechtel]

It sounds like you're suggesting apathy instead?

To say it's a moot issue because there are technical work arounds is pretty naive. I seriously doubt any major browser would ship with a work around to this...I don't know why you assume they would.

[maximusprime]

I just think the sky isn't falling that's all. I think the endless posting of articles, protesting, etc etc is a big waste of man hours.

[InclinedPlane]

This sentiment is exactly the root of the problem. If "the sky started falling" at exactly the moment when governments erected police states or attained excessive powers then they would be blocked from having those powers.

Instead, these things tend to be two stage processes. In stage 1 the government attains new powers in order to further some generally positive goal. However, in stage 2 the lack of safeguards on that power leads to abuse and excess but by then it's already too late to easily roll back or block that power.

If we wait until the sky is falling then we will have waited too long. We need to ensure that personal liberties have strong protections, both offline and on. Failing to do so won't lead to immediate disaster but it will lead to making it nearly impossible to stop a disaster as it's happening.

[jinushaun]

Whether or not the sky falls when SOPA is passed is moot. The hope is that the louder we are, the better chance SOPA has of failing to pass.

[steventruong]

It helps raise awareness and reach others who are not HN and Reddit regulars too and by extension reach others several degrees out. That's the first step in affecting change i.e. educating others and getting the word out. If you don't attempt to do this, nothing will happen. Its not a waste. A waste is exactly what you suggest, sitting idle while shit happens and you choose not to do anything simply because you feel its a "waste". That's ignorance at its best.

[wes-exp]

What's uglier than a protest mob?

A world without Youtube, Flickr, Etsy, and Vimeo. Plus the suppression of future innovative startups, all at the behest of dying media companies grasping for control.

If you think SOPA is a moot issue, you aren't paying attention.

[pyre]

I'm pretty sure that (at least in one of.its iterations) Sopa made workarounds for the DNS issue illegal.

[mitchellhislop]

...except that would be illegal to do under SOPA

[sequoia]

A mob of unruly domain registrants? Not exactly Kristallnacht, if you ask me...

[dextorious]

"""I'm against SOPA as much as the next guy, but it's a moot issue. Browsers will just release new versions that use alternate DNS systems or get past any 'blocks'."""

I really can't stand this kind of stance.

Technical workarounds are NOT AN ANSWER to law/political problems.

At best, they are a kludge.

At worst, they get illegal, and some people end up in jail.

It's nice to have them, but only as a last refuge.

The number one priority is to have a sensible legal/political system, not to work around it.