Namecheap has blacked out its website in protest of SOPA/PIPA bills
Namecheap has blacked out its website in protest of SOPA/PIPA bills that threaten the core principles of the Internet, joining other sites like Google and Wikipedia on January 18th to protest this upcoming legislation. Read the press release here.
In confirmation of our stance of SOPA/PIPA legislation, Namecheap has joined a major protest and blacked out its home page to raise awareness about SOPA/PIPA. While we still believe that protection of the intellectual property is important, we are confident that it shouldn’t be achieved by limiting Internet freedom with online censorship.
Our regular website will still be accessible during this blackout. We understand that our customers rely on Namecheap to run their own businesses, and we can’t turn off that functionality and shut that down. That’s exactly what SOPA/PIPA want to do, and we’re going to oppose that until the very end.
What are SOPA and PIPA?
SOPA and PIPA represent two anti-piracy bills in the United States House of Representatives and the United States Senate respectively. Both may have good intentions, but they are harming the core principles of the Internet: freedom and innovation.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation features an excellent explanation of how the bills violate the freedom of speech that serves as the foundation of the Internet.
Namecheap strongly encourages its US-based customers to contact their Representative or Senator, and its International customers to donate to organizations like EFF and to petition the State Department, to ensure that broad opposition to this proposed legislation rings loud and clear. Along with other companies listed on SOPAstrike.com, Namecheap also encourages everyone to spread the message on January 18th using Facebook and Twitter hashtag #SOPAstrike.
More information about SOPA/PIPA
- US residents: find out if your senator supports or opposes the legislation and learn about where the pro-SOPA money has gone
- VoteForTheNet
- Fight for the Future
- A video explaining PIPA
- Clay Shirky’s TED Talk
Blackout in the news
Blog and other media:
- Copyblogger
- Consumerist explains that these bills are far from dead.
- Mashable: SOPA Will Take Us Back to the Dark Ages, Why SOPA is Dangerous, and Why SOPA and PIPA Won’t Stop Real Piracy
- From Google’s own Matt Cutts: Call Your Congressman, Progress against SOPA (with video), and It’s Time to Stop Protect IP
Seriously???????
FIRST!
I am not new to the internet but I do not know enough to protect my Master Card.
Black out your website seems a bit dodgy to me. How can I verify you are an honest business?
Tom – the blackout is affecting major sites, including Google today. This has no impact on your credit card. It’s merely a landing page that encourages users to contact their representatives and read more about the risks that SOPA/PIPA pose to our Internet freedoms.
If you click on “continue to our regular site,” you’ll see everything you’re used to seeing on Namecheap. Please read the links above to see how January 18th has been designated by many honest businesses as a day to protest upcoming legislation that will threaten our Internet rights.
Thank you Name Cheap for standing up for our rights. If this is how you are learning about the U.S congress trying to pass SOPA/PIPA bills to curtail our online freedom of speech and innovation then you should be ashamed. As someone looking to register domain or host online content, these bills are effectively going to screw you and Name Cheap is one of the few that are standing up against it. And thank Name Cheap for sticking up for what’s right! I transfered all my domains to Name Cheap to show support for all their work towards this effort.
I can’t believe that people that can barely send a text message are now discussing how the internet should operate. They are either monumental idiots or want full control of everyone that uses the internet. My guess is both…
Fore those who don’t know what SOPA and PIPA are here watch this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JhwuXNv8fJM
I’m not from the US, so in theory this shouldn’t impact me, but I’d have to be really thick to even think that.
This will impact all of us, corporations will take over and everyone else will be at their mercy.
This is a very honorable gesture from Namecheap and I admire them for protesting against these retarded bills.
Please excuse my English, it’s not my native language.
Very good to see! Anyone who thinks this isn’t an excellent move by NC should do a little more research into SOPA and PIPA and then consider how it may affect them in the future.
Thank you for standing up (or should I say down?) in protest! Few people knew of these bills untl the news media reported on the Wikki sites blackout in protest. I guess maybe the big 1 must have contributed enough to some PACs after all. Anyone who knows much about the Internet and software knows who I am talking about with by the term “big 1”. Thanks again to all who black out pages in protest today!
Government should not be enlisted to enforce Internet censorship; they are just acting because of their own blown security and should not be allowed to regulate for Hollywood and other commercial businesses.
I personally think its ridiculous, they should just leave the internet as it is. People will learn.
I was shocked to day as i was working on updates to my website it just shut down.Then said suspended what is this all about? We did suspect a hacker a couple of weeks ago. However with the help of Staff member Oleg she fixed the problem and for the past 10 days everything has been good. I have not complaint now! all is well. So you like close the door after the horse is bolted as it were? I dont know what phishing activity is but i am not guilty of any wrong doing? I am an honest man I have done nothing to harm namecheap hosting in any way. Can you please put back my website a.s.a.p.
One of the SOPA supporter is godaddy! Some of their clients start to move their domains to another registrar as a protest for godaddy support to SOPA. So, namecheap.com, I suggest you to create some coupons to get that moving flocking client to yours! And run the coupons for a couple week! Also let the world know that namecheap.com protests to the sopa/popa bills.
Rev. Brian – we have shut down namecheap.com ONLY, not your own website. That’s the message we’re trying to convey. If SOPA/PIPA pass, your site can be shut down without warning. This is exactly what we are trying to oppose. This blackout won’t stop you from conducting regular business on namecheap.com or your own domain; if your site is down today, it is unrelated to this issue and you should contact support directly.
Thank you NameCheap. Glad you’re bringing awareness to this very important issue.
Soo Alex Jones wasn’t so irrational after all for warning people…
The Internet is truly the very last bastion of freedom in the world today. If we let – and we have to understand that it’s ours to lose – our power-hungry Federal Government steal more of our God given freedoms by giving some government bureaucrat the power to decide what we can and cannot do, it will be a very sad day for the Free World.
Thanks NameCheap! Hopefully with your site, Wikipedia, Reddit, and Google down or blacked out for the next 12-24 hours people will finally start to get the message.
1 Day of blackout is better than it happening forever..
IBNU – we already have one 🙂 SWITCH2NC (listed on our coupon page, http://www.namecheapcoupons.com)
dont forget. freedom is all..
Thank you NameCheap for standing up against this legislation. GoDaddy has shown themselves to obviously not be on the side of consumers. You’ve won my loyalty through yours.
This proves one thing for sure, if a few of the major names on the internet get together for a good cause they can quite easily bring about change or at the very least draw the attention of millions.
when exactly is this going to stop becos i am deeply worried about the ugly situation,it is indeed affecting all most everybody that has their domains registered with namecheap.com.MY SITE isn’t coming on the internet.
Excelente iniciativa.. que bien por sitios como Namecheap y Wikipedia que han apoyado esto como un repudio a una ley proteccionista de intereses de pocos, quienes no piensan más que en su bienestar y lucro..
Gracias Namecheap
Thanks namecheap for standing against SOPA. We need to stand all against SOPA. Go ahead namecheap, we are always with you.
BRAVO!
As an account holder with NC I am happy with your service and your willingness to do what you’ve done today! You’ve earned a great deal more of my respect today. Thank you for your action.
Great stance Namecheap, keep it up!!!
You have my utmost respect for the difficult stances you’ve took against SOPA/PIPA (Protect-IP).
On the other hand Go Daddy is just pitiful.
Go Daddy were part of creating the proposed bill and outright supported it, and just for the simple reason that because they were loosing many customers (including myself) have now decided to say that after all they don’t support it…
I say live by the sword die by the sword.
Go Daddy and it’s management are pathetic. I’ve lost all the respect for Go Daddy I had left.
Steve, this downtime does NOT affect your domains or our site functionality. As we make clear in the post, we have blacked out the homepage only; you can still continue to our website and conduct business as usual. After all, if we stopped that, we’d let SOPA/PIPA win – that’s what they want to shut down and what we won’t.
Ahhh! Just popped over here to NC to do some domain checking and voila, SOPA protest page – BRAVO However, judging from the range and tone of the comments I’ve read, many are just not getting! I don’t know if it’s because (as I know all too well) the average person is incapable of reading what is on their computer screen but instead, read what they ‘think’ they are reading. Nor can I determine if it’s because, if is the case, many are comprehending (SOPA issues, Facebook comments or stupid saying of the day) what’s really going on and what is at stake. In any instance, I applaud Name Cheap, Google and the host of other prominent sites that have banned together to stand up for what is right even if many have no clue as to what they are being protect from.
thanks for standing up against this legislation! I trust the good things will happen… everybody should speak up!
I dont like SOPA, they disturb and will be killing my income, Please God!! Where this people SOPA’Scome from??? From the jungle??
They’ll pass the bill.
Who cares if namecheap, bluehost and others temporarily show messages on their website home pages?
Permanently shut down your business for a couple of days then the real public reaction will come. Close to the senate voting, Stop business indefinitely. I believe that there is a need to create a global platform for saving the rights of the internet users and businesses.
SOPA and PIPA is not for people, it is just for them who wants to rule on us…..
I am with freedom!!!
yes, stop SOPA and GoDaddy Support SOPA so i have to take all my domain in godaddy to somewhere… godaddy so suck.
I’m all for this blackout – now all Namecheap needs to do is provide rates that compete with all the other domain registrars out there, and I’ll have no problem using them!
good work on the first half.
I say no to both bills.
It’s only small number of internet users that use it commit evil.Majority of us use it for good purpose and many are making a living genuinely trading on the internet,thus providing for their families.
I say no to such bills.
3 cheers to Namecheap for standing up to tyranny!
it is the job of government to secure our unalienable and natural rights. life, liberty, property and the pursuit of happiness. if they infringe on those rights by any means, then the government is no longer doing what is intended for it to do.
to be able to feed my family which is my wife, myself and someday soon a few kids, i need to be able to buy domains. the american economy is not largely supported by entertainment by sources off the internet as much as it is by the entertainment provided ON the internet. by simply censoring or suing people because someone somewhere feels like they’re not rich enough, then that is wrong. let us the people have what we want. that is why we have elected our leaders, so they can speak for us.
I agree with John’s comment, that people who can barely send an email and have no clue what SOPA is should stay awasy from commenting.
Thank you Namecheap for standing up to the powerhungry.
I just can’t believe there are people who could not comprehend 2 worded-sentences on the Namecheap frontpage. These types of people who are trying to control the internet, I guess.
Internet is only for people who can read, write and comprehend it.
Just wanted to point out this piece of brilliance by ‘Niraj’ above:
“Permanently shut down your business for a couple of days”
lol
SOPA is The Real Enemy for online liberty and freedom.
To All Blogger: Let’s Take Action To Break SOPA & PIPA rules..!!
To USA Goverment: You Must Know & Understand Only Little Rich People Around The World..!!!
Thank’s NameCheap for your action and tell anyone about this sucker SOPA rules.
Very commendable NameCheap for helping get the word out about the danger of SOPA.
Best of luck to all of us who depend upon the Web to make a living.
John Barremore
Houston, TX
oh god … do not let it actually happen.!
I think the US government is adopting the communist system of controlling their citizens. If they pull this off, that’s the beginning of all human rights for the American people being flushed down the toilet.
Incredible!!… if this act goes ahead, it’ll be total mayhem.
In the beginning Goverments were setup to serve the people, so that when the people wanted changes to happen for the good of society, the goverments would be the group to organize this… Over time, the power went to their heads & now as a result, we are seeing the insanity of whats happens when goverments lose touch with reality…
Y’all soupd bro
Well done. Thanks for joining his important cause to keep the internet free. It’s truly the last standing free market open for prosperity.
Thinking of moving my 800+ domains away from my current registrar to namecheap.
Is there a way to do that without losing my prepaid years of service and/or having to trigger new registration expenses?
Everybody please sign the petition to protect the internet:as posted on google.com website
https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/
Though this legislation will not hurt our country, but because all our domain names are bought from Namecheap (an US Company), I and all Indonesian people are strongly against PIPA/SOPA Acts. Thanks Namecheap to be stand against these Acts.
Great Job NameCheap, I have 19 Domains Registered with NameCheap and they will Continue to be Registered with NameCheap. I left GoDaddy going on 2 years ago, after I saw the GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons was Killing Elephants. Also a Month ago I found out that GoDaddy was for SOPA and they even helped write SOPA, one Day they Blogged that SOPA was a good thing and the Next Day they were condemning it, even though they helped write it, so GoDaddy has Proved that there Untrustworthy and Completely Unbelievable. Help Fight the InfoWars Check Out Alex Jones of Austin Texas USA