Bikers Of America, Know Your Rights!: SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act...........

Tuesday, December 27, 2011

SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act...........

SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, is a proposed bill that would allow owners of intellectual property to block or disable any website that they consider infringes on their intellectual property.
Unfortunately, the bill takes a “carpet bombing” approach to piracy and gives intellectual property owners unprecedented powers in being able to take websites down without any sort of due process.
The bill goes so far that many people have renamed it the “Stop Online Privacy Act” because it infringes on both privacy and freedom.
Many people are worried, and rightly so, about how SOPA can hurt the internet. SOPA hurts consumers, SOPA hurts service providers, and SOPA hurts freedom of speech.
Like many service providers and competitors, we feel so strongly about SOPA that we’ve been compelled to act. We are a freedom-loving domain registrar and above all else, the rights of our customers come first.
In a statement, Richard Kirkendall, CEO of Namecheap said:

While we at Namecheap firmly believe in intellectual property rights, SOPA is like detonating a nuclear bomb on the internet when only a surgical strike is necessary. This legislation has the potential to harm the way everyone uses the Internet and to undermine the system itself. At Namecheap, we believe having a free and open Internet is the only option that will continue the legacy of innovation and openess that stands for everything we all value in our modern society.

Some of our competitors support SOPA, despite the untold damage it can do to the internet as we know it.
Because of this, we're declaring December 29th “Move Your Domain Day”, as a call-to-action for those who oppose SOPA and wish to leave service providers who support SOPA.
On December 29th, we’re offering transfers below cost ($6.99* per transfer) using the coupon code SOPASucks. Additionally, for every domain transfer initiated on the 29th, Namecheap will donate $1 to the Electronic Frontier Foundation, to help them continue the legal fight against SOPA, PROTECT-IP, and other overbroad and ill-considered legislation.
Shari Steele, Executive Director of the EFF stated:

EFF is pleased to support Namecheap's efforts to bring attention to the proposed SOPA legislation and its consequences for Internet users worldwide. With the funds donated from the MoveYourDomainDay effort, EFF will continue to defend your right to free expression in the digital world.

We're pleased to support the EFF and urge our customers to spread the word about the damage SOPA can do. If you choose to transfer your domain to Namecheap, you will be choosing a domain registrar that fights for customer rights, and you'll also be supporting the EFF, an organization that has always fought for our digital freedoms.