Sometimes, the Internet wins after all. Yesterday, a day that domain company Go Daddy would like to forget, saw Internet legends threatening to take business away from it and moronic blog posts without commenting. All over its support of SOPA.
Today, Go Daddy has reversed its stance on the “Stop Online Piracy Act”, and no longer supports SOPA.
Here’s what Go Daddy CEO Warren Adelman had to say about the change of tune:
Fighting online piracy is of the utmost importance, which is why Go Daddy has been working to help craft revisions to this legislation – but we can clearly do better. It’s very important that all Internet stakeholders work together on this. Getting it right is worth the wait. Go Daddy will support it when and if the Internet community supports it.
The company had a lot of egg on its face and has backed down.
Christine Jones, Go Daddy General Counsel, tried to save face by asserting the fact that the company has always backed Internet creators:
Go Daddy has always fought to preserve the intellectual property rights of third parties, and will continue to do so in the future
While this is a complete PR move for Go Daddy, it’s an important step towards obliterating SOPA and coming up with rules and regulations that make sense for everyone. If all of the other companies who were listed as supporters do the same, then there’s a fighting chance this thing will get squashed. It’s a good thing that the company didn’t let this go any further, because users were pledging to leave Go Daddy because of its previous stance.
So happy to see they are backing down.
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LikeYeah, I was REALLY surprised on this. We were going to move over 1k domains away from GoDaddy in response to this. SO glad to see this reversal. Yeah, I'm small potatoes for them but still. You gotta vote with your dollars right?
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Likewalterhiggins 1k domains? That's no small potatoes! :)
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LikeI'd say stop the boycott in two days. The failure of certain ISPs to stand up is inexplicable but they are individual incidents. However, this battle is a drop in the war declared against the Internet by Hollywood.
One down. Hollywood boycott coming.
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LikeIf you're using GoDaddy, you should still drop them. Why? https://plus.google.com/114515031610633545151/posts/89C1pXJvQpM
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LikeGlad to see that they've at least withdrawn their public position.
Even if you take everything else out of the equation and just look at the numbers on NoDaddy ( http://rawr.mschade.me/nodaddy/ )–464 customers and 5,951 domains to be lost–it doesn't make sense for them to support it.
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Likewow, I'm not sure if I respect them for listening or just think they are cowards for backing down. Sad thing is this whole situation shined a light on their elephant killing CEO. I'll probably still switch thanks to my experience with their customer service.
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LikeToo little, too late. I'm still jumping ship.
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LikeMike Vardy agreed
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LikeConversation from Twitter
williejackson #godaddy didn't officially withdrawal support from #sopa. Its a PR stunt. Look into it.
ErinSlick and that's because you are correct. It started on reddit, and now the hivemind is even angrier.
TheJournalizer people here are lauding them. Clearly, they didn't read the statement. Shenanigans.
ErinSlick exactly - They made it clear that it was just a publicity stunt, but they will be less vocal about their support.
williejackson since the statement says nothing about fixing their crappy interface, I think I'm done all the same. :)
sparkalyn +1
nowever hey on facbeook they are sending out brand new ipad 2's for the holidays! look here fbchristmas .com
learnocracy hey on facbeook they are sending out sponsored ipad 2's for xmas! just look fbchristmas .com
More #Twonders to #FF nunziarider sandinbrock charlesboniva and #HappyHolidays too ...
tmninja chrisgarrett nestguy only to the extent that their customers made them care.
bradmccarty cammipham nice! Great article. I absolutely love the title.
playfulpixel I left GoDaddy back when I found out there owner loves to go elephant hunting. Haven't missed them at all.
playfulpixel Yeah! High five! :D
DeejayKnight I would still do it. They need to be punished for even considering it.
Boke18 Which is why I still may. Thinking of heading toward site5 for everything web-related. Gotta make sure they don't support SOPA too.
DeejayKnight Yep we don't support Sopa, chk our blog for more too :), is anyone support sopa? The thing is a nightmare!
DeejayKnight We don't - you can find more info on our stance here - http:\/\/t.co\/zTqzLvwd
Evanish Thanks for the link by the way. I literally had another tweet come in on my TL about their SOPA support right after yours.
Evanish I'd agree w\/ your last tweet about still not trusting them. You're right, they'll keep doing it.
williejackson believe that bullsh*t if you want to
_j12 You're not skeptical, are you? :)
I've been meaning to email you all week.
GregRickaby williejackson That decision was fueled by loss of revenue. Not constitutional conviction.
tnypxl GregRickaby Agreed.
williejackson Is it possible that GoDaddy is no longer secretly run by Darth Vader?
daveursillo No. It's a trap.
Conversation from Facebook
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UfoDh1XL2wo
A bad move for them. I'll be moving my domain too.
So the statement from the CEO says there has to be a consensus about who leads the internet community? WTF? That's the most idiotic statement I think I've ever heard coming from an intenet company. Nobody LEADS the internet.
FCUK GoDaddy!
Smart move by GoDaddy
Haha! Great work guys!
The power of the crowd :)
This is what people power can do! Congrats and thanks to those who pulled out their domains from godaddy in protest. Down with SOPA!!!