Wikipedia blackout on January 18

That's the $64,000 question.

 

One letter means little. Tens of thousands of letters mean a lot. Emails are close to being worthless.

 

Which is why I ususally roll my eyes when somebody comes up with the idea of starting a petition about something at the grassroots level. They just don't understand that the support they will get simply won't faze people with the opposing opinion.

 

Yeah, this is one that Apple, Google and Microsoft are going to have a lot more success fighting than a million letter-writers.

 

If you include $64,000 when you write your Congressman, then - and only then - do they tend to notice.

 

A close friend is a press secretary for a GOP Congressman. He sent this to me.

"Trust me people and lots of them are sharing their opinions! And for the record it is working...Looks like the legislation has been stopped in its tracks!"

 

And how effective would those opinions be if Google and the other Internet titans didn't share them?

 

Not sure what you mean. He said it is all hands on deck in the office answering calls from constituents, not lobbyists.

 

My Congressman spends all his time in The Washington Post circulation area. He doesn't care what I think.

 

What I mean is they could have 10 million calls coming in, but if Apple hadn't dropped its support of SOPA and Google and Microsoft hadn't ramped up their side of the campaign, those calls and letters would mean very little.

 

Exactly. You really think contacting your Congressmen does anything? Because I don't. It's all about the heavy hitters.

 

Wasn't it pretty much dead in the water yesterday when Obama said he'd veto it? They didn't have the numbers to overturn it, so it was basically over.

I just think it's weird that I can go to Wikipedia right now and it works fine. I thought the "global blackout" was supposed to last all day.

And, not for anything, but is there anyone who couldn't live without the sites that were supposed to take part in the blackout?

I go to Wikipedia occasionally, but a good ol' Google search usually gets me the information I need and not necessarily from Wiki.