A portion of the tweets using the cPanel anti-SOPA hashtag
(WEB HOST INDUSTRY REVIEW) — Web hosting control panel cPanel launched a Twitter campaign on Tuesday to raise awareness about the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act. According to a blog post, cPanel promises to donate $2.50 per Tweet with the hashtag #cpanel4antisopa to the Electronic Frontier Foundation.
In the post, cPanel CEO Nick Koston says it has already donated $5000 to EFF, and will donate an additional $2.50 for every Tweet up to a total donation of $10,000.
According to hashtags.org, the hashtag #cpanel4antisopa has been used more than 100 times since this 8 am ET.
Formed in 1990, the Electronic Frontier Foundation is a non-profit group that fights for issues affecting digital rights, free speech, privacy and consumer rights, primarily in court. It advises policymakers, press and the public on issues like SOPA and PIPA.
cPanel says it opposes the bills because of their impending negative impact on hosting providers. It says the bills attack the domain name system, service providers, financial providers, and web hosts by “inhibiting their ability to generate revenue and access to advertising.” If the bills passed, a US attorney could obtain a court order demanding a web host block access to websites accused of infringement. This would be an expensive and lengthy process for hosting providers, and have many negative effects including restricting online free speech, and obstructing the “safe harbor” protections laid out by the Digital Millennium Copyright Act. cPanel says it could also scare investors away from funding Internet startups.
“The most troubling aspect of SOPA and PIPA is that they will do little to stop online piracy since most violators will simply open a new website within hours of being shut down,” cPanel says.
cPanel also encourages hosts to join Save Hosting, an organization that serves to give the hosting industry a voice in the development of legislation that affects hosting providers, primarily SOPA and PIPA. Its founder, ServInt chief operating officer Christian Dawson, is speaking Tuesday at the Consumer Electronics Show in a session called “Infringement, Rogue Websites and Copyright Crackdowns: How to Catch Tuna without Catching Dolphins”. The panel discussion will examine and offer alternatives to the current legislation.
In November 2011, the WHIR ran a webinar with Save Hosting’s founders about SOPA and PIPA.
About Nicole Henderson
Nicole Henderson writes full-time for the Web Host Industry Review where she covers daily news and features online, as well as in print. She has a bachelor of journalism from Ryerson University in Toronto, and has been writing for the WHIR since September 2010. You can find her on Twitter @NicoleHenderson.
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