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I remember last year when congress was trying to pass the SOPA act and SO put a banner up to make people aware and stand against it. Well this year it seems to be happening again (or something similar):

Google Take Action: Add Your Voice to Keep the Internet Free and Open

I was wondering if it is possible for SO/SE to do the same thing again with the banners to support our free internet?

Seems like NDAA passed last week and if our internet becomes censored and warrant-free spied upon, well, I am just gonna snap.

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  • 6
    If Stack Overflow puts up a banner about US laws I couldn't care less about, I'm just gonna snap.
    – yannis
    Nov 30, 2012 at 23:53
  • 4
    Did you snap last year when they did that? That's the only reason I posted this.. and really, you could care less about this? wow
    – Nick Rolando
    Nov 30, 2012 at 23:57
  • Hm? Who did what last year? There was no banner for SOPA... Also, why should I care about this? Or any US law?
    – yannis
    Nov 30, 2012 at 23:59
  • Yes, they did. And I think anyone should care about any freedom of speech impairments for any country.
    – Nick Rolando
    Dec 1, 2012 at 0:01
  • Oh, you're talking about that 6 hour long system message... Right...
    – yannis
    Dec 1, 2012 at 0:02
  • Title edited - I wasn't really asking to support the google campaign, but to do something similar, like a simple awareness message.
    – Nick Rolando
    Dec 1, 2012 at 0:07
  • @Shredder: You're welcome to change the title again if you feel there's something that summarizes it better, but SE putting up a system message for it is basically SE supporting it. I only edited it because your previous title meant different things depending on how you read it.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Dec 1, 2012 at 0:07
  • @Yannis: This isn't even a US-specific law. If you read the Google Take Action page, the United States is actually not mentioned anywhere. The conference is between many governments around the globe, and the campaign is geared towards people across the globe protecting their free and open Internet.
    – animuson StaffMod
    Dec 1, 2012 at 0:09
  • @animuson I was talking about NDAA.
    – yannis
    Dec 1, 2012 at 0:09
  • @Yannis Re: "puts up a banner about US laws" - The banner I'm proposing was not for NDAA... I should not have put that in the post. But if this internet censorship takes place, then people's awareness of such gov. corruption acts (such as NDAA) will be greatly hindered (and no SE ):
    – Nick Rolando
    Dec 1, 2012 at 0:12
  • Perhaps then you should update your question and clarify exactly what you are talking about. Are you aware what conference Google Take Action page is talking about? Do you have any idea about the agenda of the conference, or which countries are attending? What will the banner be about?
    – yannis
    Dec 1, 2012 at 0:16
  • 2
    Wow, haters gonna hate
    – Nick Rolando
    Dec 1, 2012 at 0:18
  • You are asking for a banner. And I'm simply asking: What will the banner be about? Also, are you proposing we have the banner for the full 11 days WCIT-12 will last?
    – yannis
    Dec 1, 2012 at 0:20
  • 3
    No, the sad thing is that you didn't. I'm sorry to be harsh, but hacktivism helps no one, if you honestly feel this is a serious issue, you owe it to yourself to approach it a bit more seriously. Do some research, find out exactly what the campaign is about and come up with concrete ideas.
    – yannis
    Dec 1, 2012 at 0:25
  • 6
    I've gotten to the point where I automatically interpret "haters gonna hate" as "I have no argument so I'm going to pretend the other guy is somehow defective". Don't do it.
    – dmckee --- ex-moderator kitten
    Dec 1, 2012 at 1:10

1 Answer 1

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In general, I believe that SE should be apolitical. Nothing will destroy your beloved sites faster than promoting political agendas of any sort.

The SOPA banner was a special case: SOPA would have affected SE and many other Internet sites' business model in a very direct way. Having the banner up for a mere six hours was still extremely controversial.

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  • Not to mention that WCIT-12 is a conference. People will gather and talk, no laws will (directly) come out of it. Are we going to put up a banner against discussion?
    – yannis
    Dec 1, 2012 at 0:27
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    The whole thing sounds like a reasonable opportunity for a blog post, if anyone feels so inclined. But a banner would be a bit much imho.
    – Bart
    Dec 1, 2012 at 0:30
  • 1
    @Bart The Programmers community blog would be ideal for this.
    – yannis
    Dec 1, 2012 at 0:34
  • 9
    @Yannis: People gathering to talk? Ridiculous! Forget a banner, can't we just close the conference as "not constructive" or something?
    – McCannot
    Dec 1, 2012 at 0:58

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