Chrome browser extension notifies you of SOPA supporting websites

31 Dec 11 00:50 by Justin_Massoud in category Piracy, Software To news archive

The proposed boycott of website provider GoDaddy over its pro-SOPA stance failed to launch last week after the company hopped the fence and sided with the bill’s opponents. A mass exodus of customers never came. But that doesn’t mean individual boycotts of companies that support the controversial anti-piracy legislation are off the table.

A new extension published to Google’s Chrome Web Store informs users if their favorite site is a SOPA supporter, helping them avoid it in the future.

The No SOPA Chrome extension, created by Andy Baird and Tony Webster, went live on December 29. It’s amassed nearly 3,000 users in that short time, with most giving it 5-star scores.

How it works is by simply adding a red banner to the top of a web page warning viewers that they’re visiting a page owned by a known SOPA supporter, the pair explained. Sites with no SOPA affiliations, or those who have publicly come out against the bill, should display as usual.

Baird and Webster have promised updates should new groups come out to praise the bill, or flip-flop a la GoDaddy. They’ve asked the community to send suggestions or corrections to their Twitter accounts in the interest of keeping the software as up-to-date as possible.

Last week, Massachusetts developer Tamer Rizk uploaded a Firefox add-on called DeSOPA that circumvents potential DNS-style blocks – the kind some SOPA critics fear would become standard should the legislation pass. (via Betabeat)

Similar posts:

3 Comments

debro
Posts: 12921
Posted on: 31 Dec 11 09:41
SOPA is an embarrassment to the USA ... and a danger to the rest of the world, and a ridiculous attempt to censor the internet, endangering the free transfer of information in the pursuit of protecting corporate profits.

Attempting to pass SOPA through Government, while condemning china's net censorship is incredibly hypocritical - I wonder if the US government recognises the irony?.
iamrocket
Posts: 419
Posted on: 01 Jan 12 19:05
In theory this app could be modified to block all SOPA supporting sites, and Google could force it on to all Chrome builds in essence creating an anti-SOPA legislation.... (obviously I'm kidding, but it does show the ludicrousness of the SOPA legislation, it would be SOPA in reverse!)
curmudgeon55
Posts: 1
Posted on: 01 Jan 12 20:24
Quote:
Originally Posted by debro View Post
SOPA is an embarrassment to the USA ... and a danger to the rest of the world, and a ridiculous attempt to censor the internet, endangering the free transfer of information in the pursuit of protecting corporate profits.

Attempting to pass SOPA through Government, while condemning china's net censorship is incredibly hypocritical - I wonder if the US government recognises the irony?.
Of course, you realize that we're talking about a government here. To paraphrase Adam Savage, they'll reject your reality and substitute their own where such irony doesn't exist and what they do doesn't have any similarity to what other governments do.

The really stupid thing is that there is already legislation enough to take care of any real copyright violations that are going on but their civil laws not criminal laws. That means the copyright holder has to do the investigating, prosecuting, etc. They're just trying to have these new laws created so that they don't have to do so much work themsleves and move it onto someone else's shoulders.

Post a comment

Hello guest,
default
To benefit from all extra features you need to log in or sign up.
signup log in

About this category

Piracy

  • The constant fight against, or enjoyment of pirated movies, music and games: this news covers all that is piracy related, such as lawsuits and P2P services.More about this

Software

  • Sometimes your products need a software update to protect or let it run better. Here you'll find the latest hardware-related software updates.More about this

Most popular headlines

Diablo 3 game fans hit with always-online DRM grief (4)

  • Fri 18 May 20:04 by Seán
  • Software

it appears that Blizzard underestimated the server capacity required to handle all the gamers, thus resulting in Battle.net servers being overloaded and taken offline at launch. As Diablo III requires the user to be logged in with an uninterrupted internet connection to play, most players were greeted with an "Error 37" on the day of launch, unable to play the game.

CD Projekt says the truth is, DRM doesn't work (2)

  • Mon 21 May 22:48 by Seán
  • Piracy

In an interview between Forbes and CD Projekt CEO Marcin Iwinski, Iwinski said the truth is that DRM simply does not work. He said the main problem is that the copy protection is cracked within hours of the release of every game, not to mention the money and development wasted to implement it. Those with pirated versions also have a clean and more functional game!

Why not? PNY announces USB drive with whistle (10)

It could be possible that there is a scenario where you would have loved to be able to whistle on your USB stick, but we really wonder when. To make

FBI to start special service to spy on online communication (1)

Cnet claims that the FBI, the intellige

See all headlines

Active Commenters