PSA: We have decided to go dark on January 18th in opposition of SOPA and PIPA

A lot of people have been wondering our stance on the whole SOPA and PIPA issue going on these days and being a part of the game industry as well as in a community such as Android where openness is valued part of everything. With that said we clearly opposed SOPA and PIPA and always have been.

With that said we have come to the conclusion that, after seeing sites like Reddit, Tucows, Major League Gaming, XDA-Forums and game developers such as Epic Games, Jagex, Trion Worlds and others all doing their part to oppose these bills and go into some sort of blackout, we too will be going dark on January 18th, 2012 starting at 8:00AM EST in order to protest SOPA and PIPA. While it is great that all of these sites and developers (with plenty more unlisted) doing their part, we are not any sort of size these companies are nor do we pull the weight that they do.

Still, even as small (or big depending on how you look at it) we are, being in the position of being the original site dedicated to Android games and gaming, as well as many of us being gamers ourselves on other platforms, we still feel that we too should do our part. SOPA and PIPA are unacceptable and will seriously hurt the internet, the gaming industry and their communities and just about every internet-centric site and business out there, not only in the US but across the board.

Being in the gaming industry, these bills affect us directly as we post gameplay videos, images and just about every other type of media that any company that has any sort of power mongering mentality behind it could essentially use against us and have us shut down. These bills are too generic, far reaching, and just plain harmful and are being supported by people in the government that do not understand the slightest about how the internet works or what free speech on here even is.

You, our readers, are gamers and so we are sure we don't have to tell you how bad SOPA and PIPA suck on every facet. It only makes sense that we go dark on January 18th and we encourage anyone who has not yet done something to oppose these two bills to do so whether it is simple signing a petition or going dark on your sites as well. This doesn't just affect the gaming industry here in the US, it affects all sites and everyone who does not believe in internet censorship.

Regardless if they pull the DNS Blocking from the bill, it does not eliminate what SOPA and PIPA can do, essentially shutting down sites on a whim. If the DNS Blocking is removed, we will still go dark on January 18th, 2012 from 8:00AM EST to 8:00PM EST as these bills in general need to be opposed until they are thrown out. When we go dark we will have a placeholder here with relevant information about SOPA and PIPA, ways to oppose it and just our visible stance against these bills.

We all hope that you support us in this and our stand against SOPA and PIPA. Piracy may be wrong but removing the freedoms we have a right to through the use of ignorant bills like SOPA and PIPA is a far greater crime.

Sincerely,

Andrew Huff
Founder / Chief Editor