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Stop SOPA: Join Us to Save the Internet
Congress meets TODAY to hold hearings on the first American censorship system.
It can pass, and if it does the internet as you know it (and sites like SmugMug, Facebook and Twitter) will never be the same again.
Do you value free speech, communication and the ability to share your thoughts and ideas across the internet? We do, and we’ve censored SmugMug’s logo today in support of American Censorship Day. If you’re reading this, the internet is probably as important to you as it is to us.
Please stand with us to raise awareness and do what you can to help.
Learn what SOPA means for you and take action here.
- The SmugMug Family
Categories: Current Events
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If you look at the bill, it seems like this is a retailiation by ‘big media’ on piracy. It actually benefits photographers as we would get much better protection for infringement as well.
But it goes too far, and those parts do more harm than good. It needs revision and cooperative development–not a bunch of angry people at big media buying policy.
Yeah, I actually was against this. I understand what they are trying to do, but I think it is a way for Big Brother to control the net.
Are you going to terminate your relationship with the detestable company that is GoDaddy?
Hi Russ — We have had a longtime partnership with GoDaddy and prefer to work with them rather than react immediately to media reports. As it stands, GoDaddy has removed their support for SOPA, showing that they are respectful to their customers’ opinions.
Untrue. They’ve publicly claimed that they changed their tune, but have shown no evidence that they have actively withdrawn their support. They have done nothing to undo the damage that their public support (and funding) of SOPA has done. Moreover, they’ve left their blog posts regarding their support of SOPA up. Stating “OK, OK, we don’t support it” is meaningless, given that they actively campaigned in favor of it (and likely provided funding / bribes to the congress critters responsible). They need to actively campaign against it to show that they really mean that they are against it. A big donation to the EFF’s fight against SOPA might be a start. Until then, it is just the same as a false apology, like a 6 year old might give.
And SmugMug needs to show more than a blog post too. Show that you have the stones and back up your words with your actions. Terminate your relationship with GoDaddy, partner with a provider that isn’t run by con-men who have to trick their customers to get money from them.
Though I’d like to, I won’t conclude from this post is that SmugMug must also support SOPA. It would be disingenuous. But SmugMug’s inaction with regard to the sins of their corporate partners is disheartening, and it is enough for me to start actively looking for a new photo host.
Hi Russ, thanks for your passionate posts. We’re decidedly against SOPA, as you can see here from our postings:
http://news.smugmug.com/2011/11/16/stop-sopa-join-us-to-save-the-internet/
and our CEO’s post here
https://plus.google.com/u/1/116570889542655364711/posts/1aZih5pgNiA
We also are wanting to work with our partners. So we’ll give this a little time to shake out. GoDaddy has been a great partner for our SmugMug customers, making it super easy and efficient for folks to get their custom domains set up. But they’re not the ONLY domain registrar out there, and we don’t force anyone to use GoDaddy. SmugMug customers are free to choose most any domain registrar they want – so long as they support CNAMEs. This being the case, there’s really no cause for immediate alarm or action. We’ll be watching it closely! Thanks again for your posts.
Hi Andy,
I’m replying to one of those posts, so I am aware of them. In fact, I found them by searching Google to see if SmugMug had a stated stance on the subject.
It is not like my opinion is going to change your direction, you are going to do what you will. I do find it hypocritical that you are against SOPA yet continue to partner with a company that _wrote_ part of the damned bill. (Source: http://www.pcmag.com/article2/0,2817,2398038,00.asp)
How against it can you be? I’ll believe SmugMug us against it (like I’ll believe GoDaddy actually opposes it) when there are actions that back up those words. There will never be actions from GoDaddy that indicate their opposition because their CEO is a sociopath who only acts in his own (and his companies) self interest. SmugMug has, in the past, not shown these sociopathic tendencies, and Don and Chris seem to be pretty stand-up guys. I had (and for now, still have) hopes that they might stay true to that.
One way to do that would be to dump GoDaddy and partner with another domain registration service, like Namecheap (who my only affiliation with is the account I created when I very recently transferred my domain registrations; as I said, talk is cheap). FWIW, Namecheap is far more customer friendly than GoDaddy, their interface is much easier to navigate, and they don’t try to con or upsell their customers like your business partner does. And, they have taken an active stand against SOPA, donating part of the transfer fees to the EFF.
Hi Russ, GoDaddy is actively opposing SOPA now: http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/29/burned-by-fleeing-customers-godaddy-no-longer-just-doesnt-support-but-actually-opposes-sopa/ I’m glad to see this. Unfortunately, for us to change domain partners right now would mean that we’d have to sacrifice some other project that our customers are begging us for – and since we don’t force anyone to use GoDaddy but rather we allow most any domain provider who supports CNAMES, there are options out there for our customers. We’re going to continue to watch the developments, and see what else GoDaddy does in opposition of SOPA. Thanks for posting again!
Dear everyone at SmugMug,
I have been wanting to chime in on this subject and this blog post seems perfect for it. For SmugMug to actively and vocally oppose SOPA is a great start, but your uninterrupted alliance with GoDaddy continues to sting. I am aware that the company now officially opposes SOPA, but only as a scared response to a drastic fall in their client numbers. A careful reading of GoDaddy’s statement also indicates that their shift is due to their observation that the Internet community opposes the content of the bill, not its actual intention and goals, which is what the community ultimately opposes.
I am sure that no project has to be sacrificed by a mere switch between registrars. I have full confidence that you have the genius in-house to establish the very same you intend, but with a better registrar. At the very least, I hope you discontinue your reseller relationship (http://www.smugmugdomains.com/) and as such cease any encouragement for SmugMug’s users to register their domain with GoDaddy.
Looking forward to your response.