SOPA is terrible for the American public, and will risk America censoring the government similar to the way that Chinese citizens are filtered from the internet. It’s a bummer that this bill would even be proposed, but unfortunately there are so many lobbying causes looking out only for the record and movie companies. SOPA would be the final nail in making America non-competitive in the global economy.
Think about it this way: Youtube wouldn’t exist if SOPA had come about. People would be fined for covering their favorite artists songs. For you Justin Bieber fans (and I hate saying this), you would not have him or his music. We need to keep the internet open for American innovation to happen. Without a free internet, we are going to quickly become a non-innovative country with a high jobless rate.
It’s now the point where we have to draw the line and say that these companies do not get our business. Some of the companies that support this bill are impossible to avoid, but here is the list of companies I will not be doing business with until it is fixed.
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1-800 Contacts, Inc. (And I just needed to order more)
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1-800-PetMeds (I’ll buy my cat’s medicine elsewhere)
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AstraZeneca- you’re a scammer anyways
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Autodesk, Inc- Sorry CAD, you were cool, I’ll find another alternative.
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Beachbody, LLC- You aren’t worth it.
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Bose Corporation- I thought you were quality, but this is a bad decision.
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Cengage Learning- You won’t be getting any purchases from my classroom
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Columbia Sportswear Company- Looks like I’ll have to go with Northface
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CVS Caremark- I need to find a new pharmacy. Probably the local one in Amherst now!
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D’Addario & Company, Inc.- I’m not buying any cables or strings from you anymore, sorry.
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Dollar General Corporation- I like Dollar Tree better.
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Electronic Arts, Inc. Well it looks like Battlefield 3 will be my last purchase from you.
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Ford Motor Company- There is no reason you need to support this bill. It might be time to go with an overseas company in lieu of the Ford Fusion Hybrid I’ve been eyeing.
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Gibson Guitar Corp- I’ll stay a Fender Stratocaster fan.
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Go Daddy- I was looking for a new webhost.
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HarperCollins Publishers- No purchases for my classroom.
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Lexmark International, Inc- I’m going with other printers.
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Liz Claiborne, Inc- You’re not getting any business from my household anymore.
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L’Oréal USA- Refer to statement above.
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Major League Baseball- I’ll have to buy knockoffs instead of your officially licensed goods.
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MPAA- America’s sick of you anyways. You have no idea how to stay innovative and offer no real value. You’d be better switching to a Spotify like model.
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NBCUniversal- I knew you’d be more evil with Comcast behind you.
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National Basketball Association- I probably won’t spend my time buying licensed Celtics goods.
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National Football League- I will still watch my beloved Jets. But no more NFL shop orders.
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New Balance Athletic Shoe- And I liked you too. Asics it is!
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New Era Cap Co Inc- Knockoff hats in the parking lot outside Fenway. Lower price, higher quality.
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Nike, Inc- We all knew you were an evil company keeping wages artificially low. I still won’t buy from you.
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Nintendo of America inc.- No WiiU for me. No more Nintendo games. I’ll use emulators for the games I already have.
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Pfizer Inc- Another scamming drug company.
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Reebok International Inc- No more NFL goods nor shoes.
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Revlon- My household will boycott you.
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Rite Aid- Again, going with a local pharmacy.
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Sony Electronics- I didn’t care much for you anyway. Samsung is better.
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Sony Music Entertainment- Greedy. That’s it.
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Sony Pictures Entertainment- Probably more greedy than your music counterpart.
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Taylor Guitars- Staying a Fender Stratocaster guy.
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The Dow Chemical Company- I’m disappointed in you.
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The McGraw-Hill Companies- No purchases for my classroom.
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The National Collegiate Athletic Association- Looks like you aren’t going pro after college.
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The Timberland Company- Sketchers boots it is.
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The Walt Disney Company- You’re too greedy. Be happy entertaining people.
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Time Warner Inc I don’t even have words.
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Viacom- You’re a joke.
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Wal-Mart- Target it is. Wal-Mart, you don’t care about the United States of America.
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Xerox Corporation- Bummer.
- Zumba Fitness, LLC- And you were just getting big. Shame
A lot of these companies are looking out for their interests, and some of them make sense. However, there is no need to make this bill the solution, you should be hiring individuals to discover technologies that help your cause while keeping the internet neutral. I do not torrent or download films, I buy everything I want to watch. I believe that we have a freedom to information, and we should be able to use what we purchase in any way we like. I don’t care if I have to activate a product. We need to encourage companies to hire individuals- cutting our jobless rate, increasing their own interests, and keeping the internet free for everyone to access.
Full Company List- http://theoriesofconspiracy.com/2011/11/list-of-major-companies-supporting-sopa.htm
Another SOPA support list- http://gizmodo.com/5870241/presented-without-comment-every-single-company-supporting-sopa-the-awful-internet-censorship-law
Actually I know for fact Ford has never supported SOPA. They signed on a letter written to congress but nothing in favor of SOPA. They even said so on their twitter.
Ford supports intellectual property protections. If Ford doesn’t truly support SOPA, there would be an official communication on their website saying so. To me, it seems that Ford may have seen the backlash against Go Daddy and not wanted that sort of outrage focused against them.
Sirs,
As a long-time (28 years) Ford family, we were recently disheartened to learn that Ford Motor Company is supporting the SOPA/Protect IP act. That your company would support draconian censorship of the Internet only suggests to me that you either do not understand the ramifications of the legislation or you wish our society to become censored in the fashion of the PRC.
Since the rest of the American-based car manufacturers have checked out for other reasons, it seems we will now have to look elsewhere for our vehicles. It’s too bad, my wife’s current Ford Focus is paid off in four months and we were looking at a new Focus or hybrid Fusion for the replacement. But I’ll not support companies that ignore the blood my family has sacrificed to create and support this nation by voting for outright censorship at the hands of some arbitrary bureaucrat. We currently have three Ford vehicles. That will change as fast as we can afford it if for nothing else to prove that we can and will exercise the power we have available in this situation. You should feel the deepest shame for supporting censorship in America. Your actions have lost a previously loyal middle-class family as customers.
Great email to Ford. My email to them wasn’t nearly as eloquent. We really need to make Ford a target for this.
“Hi, I’m Jason Defuria. I’m so incredibly against SOPA that I wrote this entire article, but I won’t stop watching my Jets!” The NFL would much rather have your viewership than have you buy a Jets hat my friend. They’ve got you right where they want you, SOPA or no. By the way, what does it mean that a company supports SOPA? Are they secretly assassinating members of congress that would oppose the bill? What are they doing that makes them “supporters?” Yeah, you didn’t mention that. Just copied and pasted these companies from another blog eh? Thought so…
I approved this comment because I support free speech. Companies that support SOPA have taken a stance saying that they believe the bill should be passed in it’s current form. Words are more powerful than assassination attempts. I compared the list from the sources that I cited vs the brands that I currently use. The list was initially taken from the SOPA supporters list that was published by the US Chamber of Commerce, but there was no copying in pasting. Because there has been so much change over the last month or so, that list on my website may not be the most current list.
There’s now an Android app that scans bar codes and will alert you if the manufacturer is pro-SOPA or intimately involved with a company that is pro-SOPA. There is also a Firefox add-on that will alert you if the site you are browsing is pro-SOPA.
American ingenuity!
You’re in the “Happy Valley,” in my neck of the woods? As of now, Sen. Scott Brown is against SOPA/PIPA, Rep. John Olver is leaning towards voting no, Sen. John Kerry is undecided.
You can track Massachusetts senators and reps here: http://projects.propublica.org/sopa/MA