Proxy Glider

So let’s hypothesize that SOPA passes, an action that would have worldwide repercussions across thousands of websites including Google, Reddit, deviantART, Facebook, and YouTube (to mention only a few giants that could be shut down or scaled back radically). That’s a terrifying prospect for users, content creators and, let’s be honest, investors who have poured billions into Web-based companies that would be at risk of going dark.

Craigslist founder Craig Newmark, Twitter co-founders Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone, and LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman argue that the bills give the Feds unacceptable power to censor the Web.

It was Google co-founder Sergey Brin who warned that the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act would put us on a par with the most oppressive nations in the world. Some have compared SOPA to the internet censorship in Egypt, Iran, and China in the last couple years.

I find it is a double irony that the proposed date SOPA is scheduled to be passed, is the anniversary of the internet shutdown in Egypt last year.

So if SOPA passes what could you do then when the net goes black?

One internet web site claims that SOPA is no big deal. “Soapy” its creator claims, is a new Internet browser plug-in that could neutralize at least one of the ways in which government or private entities may try to keep Internet users from seeing darkened Web sites.

The creator of Soapy, a new Firefox plugin, can neutralize SOPA, giving users (at least those with Firefox now, and soon Chrome) the ability to visit their favorite web sites even if they are blocked by the U.S. Government. The plugin takes the user directly to the website server, bypassing DNS-blocking techniques.

The creator of Soapy is sure that his plugin will be censored, regardless of whether SOPA passes or not. So, in an effort to cut off censors at the pass, the code was made available directly on GitHub.