It's January 18th, and you may have noticed that Kicking the Seat is still up and running. This doesn't mean that I've sat out today's SOPA/PIPA protest. I'm all for it, and hope that you'll give Congress an earful regarding these horrible pieces of legislation.
The reason KtS hasn't gone dark is technological: this site was built using SquareSpace, which doesn't currently have a simple code solution (that I could find) for instituting the blackout. I contacted SquareSpace's tech support team, who pointed me to some options that would likely work if I were proficient in advanced CSS scripting--which I'm definitely not (who has time for that when there are so many movies to watch?).
For my part, I simply ask that if you support the killing of SOPA/PIPA, which would effectively use copyright laws to restrict all unlicensed use of imagery/content on the Internet (effectively killing digital free expression), that you spread the word and be heard.
If enacted, this kind of law won't just prohibit you from using a picture of Justin Bieber as your ironic Facebook avatar. You'll also have to make sure that people appearing in your YouTube videos aren't wearing t-shirts with logos or images on them--unless you're the copyright owner. If they happen to be performing a skateboarding trick in a cineplex parking lot, you'll need to scrub the footage for movie posters in the background, too.
It's that serious.
So, please, keep Kicking the Seat from ending up a scrolling Word document, and kill SOPA/PIPA today!