[cryptoz]

> But information services like Google and Wikipedia shouldn't actually be shut off in a way that makes the information inaccessible.

And that's exactly what SOPA would do. Permanently. Nobody is preventing you from accessing today's Wikipedia content on your own this Wednesday - go download a copy of their db right now if you're that scared and fearful of a day without it. The point is a strong demonstration of what the world would be like with SOPA/PIPA. It's necessary.

[jey]

So shutting off information services is evil, and we're going to show it by committing the same evil? By that token we should teach everyone how bad genocide is by executing a random member of their family.

We should certainly get people's attention by doing something very overt like replacing every article with a big dark SOPA message, but there really should still be a way to click through to the information.

> We should certainly get people's attention by doing something very overt like replacing every article with a big dark SOPA message, but there really should still be a way to click through to the information.

That's fine for us mega-nerds, but what about everyone else?

[msg]

There's a philosophical distinction between suicide and murder and martyrdom. Just like there is between being thrust into a furnace and setting yourself on fire.

I actually don't know what it's going to be like to work on Wednesday without Wikipedia. But I think it's in all our interests to find out and put a face on these bills.

[cryptoz]

> By that token we should teach everyone how bad genocide is by executing a random member of their family.

Uh, no. That's not the same token at all.

[vincentmac]

Looks like we've reached Godwin's Law. That's didn't take too long.

[Karunamon]

<pedant intensity="100%">Godwin's law only covers the invocation of Hitler or the third reich, not random genocide.</pedant>