And given the direction the US is heading I would agree it CAN'T be trusted with any major organisation which has any sort of impact on the rest of the world however, and this has been my key point all along there is nothing 90% of the web using world can do about it other than be inconvinenced for a day.

...

If this affects the rest of us or not in the long term is a side issue because right now there is nothing we can do about it.

Clearly what phantom is suggesting here is that the UK become the 51st state of the United States of American and Europe (USAE).

My facebook feed was covered with people either a) wondering why sites were "blacked out," b) asking what SOPA is and why people are so against it, or c) linking to petition sights encouraging others to write to and call their senators. That's not to mention the stuff on Google+ I saw, nor does it account for the real life conversations I had with several people (in person and on the phone).

There were 2.4 million tweets. Compared to wiki numbers (400M / 30 days = 13M/day) the reaction is fairly notable (thought not directly correlated to wikipedia itself).

Compare this to some other numbers.

If they didn't reach you, it just goes to show how fickle such communication is. Maybe your interest groups don't overlap with those that talked about it.

Now imagine just how hard it becomes to reach someone who isn't active online or their online interaction is limited to Facebook or perhaps Youtube. According to Google, as well as some others, teenagers these days don't tend to start online either on Facebook or Google or anywhere else. They go to Youtube and use that as search engine. Hence the rise in video tutorials or video-based content, even for topics where it's ill suited. Copyright awareness was also studied in case of YT, showing that most users are well-meaning, but completely misunderstand what IP is and how it works.

I was being sarcastic; I'm sorry that wasn't more clear.

I think maybe I misunderstood your original point probably adding to the muddiness. I'm confused on whether you [Antheus] believe the wikipedia blackout was significant in raising awareness or not. I originally read your reply to mdwh as the latter.

I think maybe I misunderstood your original point probably adding to the muddiness. I'm confused on whether you [Antheus] believe the wikipedia blackout was significant in raising awareness or not. I originally read your reply to mdwh as the latter.

I consider it a success. Several news outlets reported SOPA issues worldwide for the first time and wikipedia was prominently features, being probably most familiar to general audience.

It's not a revolution, the world won't stop, but as said, it takes time. There are plenty SOPA-like laws being proposed right now in many shapes and forms all over the world, but unfortunately the public awareness of those is non-existant and there are no movements big enough to raise awareness. So even though SOPA is US-centric, it's a starting point.

I consider it a success. Several news outlets reported SOPA issues worldwide for the first time and wikipedia was prominently features, being probably most familiar to general audience

Then yes, I misunderstood you.