The effectiveness of Occupy versus blackout SOPA/PIPA

Has anyone started to measure the effectiveness (attention, awareness, change) of the Occupy movement versus blackout SOPA/PIPA?

On one hand, Occupy Wall Street and the movements across the country gained plenty of media attention. With people physically taking over public spaces, standing on street corners, and getting pepper-sprayed, it was hard to miss. But was the point well received by the public at-large? Or congress? Or business? Was there a clear goal reached?

On the other hand, by “turning off” websites in order to protest the ability for organizations to… “turn off” websites, did the public miss the point? Did it turn people against Wikipedia (see @herpderpedia)? Did it confuse visitors to Google? Or did it immediately capture the attention of millions of individuals with a few simple lines of code? Congresspeople have already started distancing themselves.

I wonder this because the two approaches appear to go about the same thing: protesting a government full of corporate mouthpieces with no real appreciation for what “real people” need. Police are trained to quash demonstrations and pepper-spray people, yet nobody but “the internet” can mess with the internet (yet..).

This entry was posted in Internet, Politics on by .

About Devin Reams

My name is Devin Reams and I founded this site to provide a useful news and review resource for Colorado skiers and snowboarders (and mountain enthusiasts). I've been skiing since I was a little kid (we moved out here when I was five years old) and I plan to ski for years beyond that. Although cosnow is not my full-time job it is my full-time winter hobby. I've been an "Epic Local" passholder since 2006 (when it was called a "Colorado Pass" or "Five Mountain Pass"). My favorite resorts are Beaver Creek and Breckenridge.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *