Wikipedia Ditching GoDaddy Over SOPA, Jimmy Wales Says

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales announced that domain names belonging to Wikipedia and Wikia would be transferred off of GoDaddy, an Internet domain registrar, to protest GoDaddy's support for the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act, a controversial anti-piracy bill under consideration by Congress.

"I am proud to announce that the Wikipedia domain names will move away from GoDaddy. Their position on #sopa is unacceptable to us," Wales wrote in a tweet. He later added, "Wikia is also moving several hundred domains from godaddy. Which registrar has quality and price right?"

GoDaddy has been hemorrhaging domains in a backlash against the company's endorsement of SOPA. Though GoDaddy said in a blog published December 20 that it was withdrawing its support for SOPA, GoDaddy CEO Warren Adelman acknowledged in a subsequent interview with TechCrunch that the company had not yet officially registered with Congress its plans to switch sides.

According to VentureBeat, GoDaddy has lost more than 37,000 domains in total. Other companies that have joined in the exodus include the Cheezburger Network, which runs popular sites such as FAIL Blog, Failbook and I Can Has Cheezburger. Cheezburger Network CEO Ben Huh tweeted, "Not happy with @godaddy. Emailed CEO, asking for clear, unequivocal dropping of SOPA support. Still planning on moving off." Commenters on Reddit have also called for a GoDaddy boycott and one Reddit user suggested December 29 should be "move your domain away from GoDaddy day."

The Next Web writes that GoDaddy has been "calling customers, begging them to stay," noting that one customer shared an anecdote about a conversation with a GoDaddy representative in which the company's rep attempted to clarify GoDaddy's stance on SOPA.

Wales previously contemplated protesting SOPA with a Wikipedia blackout
that would have seen many or all English-language Wikipedia pages taken offline.

"A few months ago, the Italian Wikipedia community made a decision to blank all of Italian Wikipedia for a short period in order to protest a law which would infringe on their editorial independence. The Italian Parliament backed down immediately. As Wikipedians may or may not be aware, a much worse law going under the misleading title of 'Stop Online Piracy Act' is working its way through Congress on a bit of a fast track," Wales wrote on Wikipedia. "My own view is that a community strike was very powerful and successful in Italy and could be even more powerful in this case."

Comments

[Bigrcube]

12:58 PM on 12/29/2011

So that's what's behind the current fund raising drive on Wikipedia. They're gonna use ALL that money collected to hire lobbyists to fight SOPA and GoDaddy.

[Moose Luck 99]

10:16 AM on 12/29/2011

SEE ALL THE CORPORATIONS STEALING COPYRIGHTED SONGS!!
Massive copy-wright fraud.

Be a HERO and Help STOP SOPA Now!! I'll tell you How! This Video that Must Be SHARED!

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WJIuYgIvKsc&feature=colike

[Zarz]

10:34 PM on 12/28/2011

Way to go Wikipedia!

[Luvz2Fly]

10:45 AM on 12/28/2011

Just wondering... Why is it when small businesses across America have problems with lost revenue due to some unfair reason, they must fend for themselves, yet when multi-billion dollar corporations have problems with lost revenue the government of the United States stands full force behind them to help? Where is the outrage from these elected people when small businesses in their district really need help?

The market place isn't perfect! Sure it sucks that some of the companies are losing out on extra profits, but that's life! They remind me of home insurance companies that complain about their loss after a big storm. This is your industry, you decided to get into it, you know the downsides and risks involved! That's risk vs. reward. Deal with it YOURSELF!

Learn and Embrace the technology - adapt and you will survive.

Unless congress wants to fight this hard for EVERYONE, they need to stay out of it!!!!!

Just saying...

================================
SOPA = Stupid Old Politicians at it Again!
================================

[dpcemker]

11:15 PM on 12/28/2011

Dude, seriously it is not the samething when you get the flu as os when thounsands of people get the flea t the same time... A. If company as much as we Might hate it control a lot of money and that money affect us all

[JohnSawyer]

01:47 AM on 12/30/2011

What?

[Mike Vids]

11:21 AM on 12/29/2011

It's ironic but most people who claim they are anti-corporate have gone from shopping at small businesses to almost exclusively getting everything online. If you only give your money to AT&T, Verizon, Sprint, Google, Apple, Amazon... when you used to go to bookstores, record stores, video stores, magazine stands, newsstands, game arcades... how is this anti-corporate? Instead of thousands of small bookshops, for most people there is one company... Amazon...Instead of thousands of video stores, there is just Netflix... Instead of thousands of music stores, there is just itunes... and that doesn't account for billions that thanks to Google are simply stolen instead. The multi billion dollar corporations are taking over, and soon they will be all that's left.

[TMF42]

07:32 AM on 12/28/2011

SOPA is just another approach to treat the symptom instead of curing the disease. The industry has to adopt not vice versa. The music industry is ahead in the learning curve but even their business model is still doomed to fail in the long run.
You have to be better than illegally distributed media - means be the first to offer with the best quality and fastest delivery, offer it world-wide and make it for an affordable price. And work with software providers to offer additional features when playing digitally signed media.

You will never kill all piracy, but that is illusive anyway ... just remember the folks taping music and sharing it with friends - that's the corner from where it comes from.

[Bryan Boru]

12:10 AM on 12/28/2011

SOPA SUCKA

[Brandt931]

06:50 PM on 12/27/2011

Two frightening pieces of controversial legislation, SOPA and The NDAA only go to further stifle our Constitutional Rights without the approval of the Americans, just as the Patriot Act was adopted WITHOUT public approval or vote just weeks after the events of 9/11. A mere 3 criminal charges of terrorism a year are attributed to this act, which is mainly used for no-knock raids leading to drug-related arrests without proper cause for search and seizure. The laws are simply a means to spy on our own citizens and to detain and censor public opinion without trial or a right to council. You can read much more about living in this Orwellian society of fear and see my visual response to these measures on my artist’s blog at http://dregstudiosart.blogspot.com/2011/09/living-in-society-of-fear-ten-years.html

[creed840]

05:50 PM on 12/27/2011

Funny I moved mine for the same reason.

[MikeyJaii]

05:09 PM on 12/27/2011

+1 for you Wiki!

[PosterNutbaG]

01:25 PM on 12/27/2011

Republicans apparently DO like government regulation, at least when it benefits their rich cronies.

[Michael Schilfries]

08:59 AM on 12/28/2011

That's what I call "selective-conservativism"... In fact, if you watch them closely the right-wing plutocrats are only "conservative" when it suits their interests - which is usually when others act conservatively.

[pattileigh]

12:20 PM on 12/27/2011

Corporations are pushing to regulate the internet in order to squeeze money out of it. It's a great way to make money without much investment, work or hiring. Win win, and Congress is being bought to accomplish this. No surprise there, they all didn't get rich being honorable.

[sf omega man]

10:55 AM on 12/27/2011

The only financial winners from SOPA will be the lawyers. Any society that becomes excessively litigious eventually grinds down under the weight of legal uncertainty. When economic productivity falls.. this limits the amount of people companies will be able to hire.

Not that I ever mistook Congress for understanding what it takes to create jobs, mind you.

[GeoNorth]

09:02 AM on 12/27/2011

The results of passing SOPA will be disastrous. SO many people say the government this or the government that, but the government can only do what we allow it to do. We mustn't give them that much power. Even my 14yo son is actively campaigning against this. He has his whole school riled up, even the teachers and administrators!

SOPA IS A BAD IDEA.

[Fabini]

08:38 AM on 12/27/2011

I noticed many GoDaddy hosted sites were not available over the weekend. Their appearance (i.e. connection) was intermittent.

I host several personal web sites via GoDaddy. I also have copyright material on those sites. I have had photographs boosted and used without permission.

SOPA may be the wrong legislation, but some for of protection needs to be in place.The internet needs boundaries, not open grazing land.

For the time being I am staying with GoDaddy, not because I support their stand and flip-flops, but it is a hassle to go moving domains and re-hosting sites.

[SToTheF]

09:47 AM on 12/27/2011

I did nothing when they came and took my neighbors...

[Fabini]

03:24 PM on 12/27/2011

I knew there this kind of response would raise its juvenile head. It's not equivalent, when you reach middle school you'll discover why.

[TruEngineHearing]

09:47 AM on 12/27/2011

SOPA is not 'maybe' the wrong legislation - it's the enchilada of bad legislation.

The power that SOPA surrenders to corporate interests is so far afield that nothing about it is salvageable. Keep your copyrighted work behind closed doors in a gallery or a theater if you don't want me to see it without paying you - but don't put it in a park and then tell me that I can't post a photo to Youface of me in the park because a copyrighted work is in the background. I own my experiences and this legislation doesn't recognize that fact. Until it does, I don't recognize its existence.

I'm totally with Jefferson on this - your right to sell matches does not supersede my right to let someone light their candle from my candle for free.

As for Go Daddy - they're now a way to jinx a business... that's how the new consumer rolls. It'd be best to get out of the way...

[Fabini]

03:22 PM on 12/27/2011

Reserved, not lame. Your paper grandstand is folding.

[ginpowell]

08:37 AM on 12/27/2011

We must keep the internet free. That is an absolute. Good move from Wiki and poop on the government who wants to take all of our rights away if they can. They (gov) are a very sneaky bunch regardless of who is in office.

[GeoNorth]

08:58 AM on 12/27/2011

I must correct you. You speak of the government as a separate entity. It is not. You are the government as am I and every other citizen in this country. By perpetrating the myth, you serve to make the myth stronger. You have a say.

[PosterNutbaG]

01:33 PM on 12/27/2011

The people aren't the government, corporations are, which is why this bill exist in the first place.

[Jody Fulford]

01:21 AM on 12/29/2011

F&Fed Sir I do not know what your politics are but your statement above cannot be repeated often enough. People really need to grasp this and think long and hard on this one concept.

[ginpowell]

04:17 PM on 12/27/2011

You are correct, I misspoke.