8 ms·

Go Daddy No Longer Supports SOPA

645 points by johnnytee 15y ago

ChuckMcM 15y ago
I think the positive outcome here is that Go Daddy publicly responded to customer pressure over what was no doubt a lot of 'insider' pressure from the folks at the RIAA/MPAA etc. Getting the public and Congress educated on the realities of information value is a painfully slow process. However, as the wave finally crests I think our grandchildren will look back on this and say "Wow, you all really thought some weird things." (of course they will likely think that anyway but still)
digitalboss 15y ago
The power of reality and real feedback from technology leaders - and not just a suit in an office checking the [yes] box on a document. Amazing discussions on Reddit and Hacker News - it'll be till Sept 2012 that this goes to vote again, let's make sure the SOPA discussion doesn't die during this time. Nice job keeping the fire on this.
drx 15y ago
> In changing its position, Go Daddy remains steadfast in its promise to support security and stability of the Internet. In an effort to eliminate any confusion about its reversal on SOPA though, Jones has removed blog postings that had outlined areas of the bill Go Daddy did support. > "Go Daddy has always fought to preserve the intellectual property rights of third parties, and will continue to do so in the future," Jones said. Translation: we got caught this time, but will not hesitate to do it again.
- RexRollman 15y ago
  They are simply NOT trustworthy.
  - geekam 15y ago
    Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...you can't get fooled again, once you're fooled. ~George W. Bush. The man said it himself. They are not trustworthy.
    - masmullin 15y ago
      Do they actually say that in Tennessee?
      - deleted 15y ago
        [deleted]
      - xiaomai 15y ago
        Texas?
        masmullin 15y ago
        I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee, but I am not 100% on that, hence the question.
    - tdfx 15y ago
      For the sake of completeness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwxTRNzLZ9M http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwxTRNzLZ9M
  - RobPfeifer 15y ago
    I've met the CEO a couple of times, and I'd say he basically brags about exploitative they are. Have to say I'm shocked at how many tech savvy people use them. Didn't realize how convincing Danica Patrick is I guess.
    - brudgers 15y ago
      I don't know how tech saavy I am, but I continue to use them because they provide low cost Windows based hosting which is relatively easy to use. Every time I look for an alternative, a comparable level of services is significantly more expensive at other providers. I wish it weren't the case, but it is.
      - BrandonM 15y ago
        This is the first rational explanation I've seen for this, so I voted it up. I'd be interested in hearing alternative solutions, if only for your sake :).
    - vacri 15y ago
      I don't play around with domain control much, so don't keep myself informed, but if I were to register domains, it doesn't matter how cheap (or free!) GoDaddy was, just having seen their Superbowl ads, they're clearly not a company that intends to be taken seriously. You can get away with that with beer ads because beer is basically entertainment. But domains are part of business, a core block. You need that to be reliable and serious. Doesn't mean your ads need to be po-faced, but it does mean that you have to exhibit some nod towards indicating you're a professional company. Nice tits are nice tits, but that doesn't make me confident in the technical nous - or perhaps more importantly, intended direction - of an internet company.
- marshray 15y ago
  They will think at least twice about it before lending their name to such a thing publicly.
  - spooneybarger 15y ago
    Yes, they can just continue to lend their name to shooting elephants and misogynist ads. I seriously doubt this is going to have much of an impact on them. So this one particular instance came back to bite them, good to know for them that pissing off techies is bad for business but animal rights people, devout christians and women ( all of whom have complained about various other parts of their business in the past ) don't have any impact on the companies actions.
    - slig 15y ago
      While I agree that their ads sucks, I don't think they're misogynist. Like every ad, they're targeted to a specific audience.
      - dreww 15y ago
        yes, they're targeted to an audience. an audience who responds to sexually objectified images of women. also known as misogynists. hello?
      - DilipJ 15y ago
        most of their ads show some woman exhibiting reluctance to undressing, and then the men around her coercing her to do so anyways. of course they're misogynist. But of course, you have to understand that it's part of the company's philosophy. This is the same CEO that came out in favor of waterboarding: http://www.metafilter.com/42906/Dear-Bob-Im-glad-youre-not-in-charge http://www.metafilter.com/42906/Dear-Bob-Im-glad-youre-not-i... the same CEO that goes elephant hunting: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/31/bob-parsons-godaddy-ceo-elephant-hunt_n_843121.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/31/bob-parsons-godaddy... supporting SOPA fits in line with that philosophy. The one thing waterboarding, elephant hunting, SOPA and their misogynistic ads have in common is the element of using force against those who are far weaker than you are.
- fedxc 15y ago
  Agree. They changed their mind because they were threaten. It's not an honest communication, they are just trying to avoid losing money/business.
- sounds 15y ago
  This is hilarious! More translations that might make your day: > In an effort to eliminate any confusion about its reversal on SOPA though, Jones has removed blog postings that had outlined areas of the bill Go Daddy did support. Translation: we said some pretty stupid things yesterday. > Go Daddy ... worked with federal lawmakers for months ... legislation first introduced some three years ago ... entire Internet community ... ensure the integrity of the Internet Translation: we've been neck-deep in this legislation, and will be pushing the next version of this bill too. Seized domains would have been a de facto transfer to Go Daddy.
  - Steko 15y ago
    Go Daddy wants SOPA to pass so bad sometimes they just cold shut down websites whenever big content sends them an email: http://movies.cosmicbooknews.com/content/michael-bentkover-warner-bros-shuts-down-cosmic-book-news-over-dark-knight-rises http://movies.cosmicbooknews.com/content/michael-bentkover-w...
  - draggnar 15y ago
    Here's another from last night: > Go Daddy has received some emails that appear to stem from the boycott prompt, but we have not seen any impact to our business. We understand there are many differing opinions on the SOPA regulations Translation: Screw you guys, wait, what did you say Jimmy Wales? http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/12/godaddy-faces-december-29-boycott-over-sopa-support.ars http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/12/godaddy-face... http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/12/godaddy-faces-december-29-boycott-over-sopa-support.ars http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/12/godaddy-face...
- mavrc 15y ago
  > In an effort to eliminate any confusion about its reversal on SOPA though, Jones has removed blog postings that had outlined areas of the bill Go Daddy did support. Somebody read 1984 and rooted for Big Brother.
  - nitrogen 15y ago
    You'd be surprised how willing most people are to just rewrite or delete history as it suits them. I've heard of guys whose ex-girlfriends tore out and destroyed pages of their diaries related to the guy when they broke up. People delete their half of conversations on forums, Facebook, etc. when they get proven wrong, so it looks like the other party was just talking to themselves. Someone once asked me to help them remove someone from a photo (not a family photo, a documentary photo of a community activity). "Why?" "Because he was being annoying!" "But this photo could be printed in the paper. He was there. You can't just rewrite history like that!" "It's my photo! If you won't help me, I'll get someone else to do it." Rewriting history is the norm. Most people haven't read 1984, and I suspect that many that do, don't get it.
Ataraxy 15y ago
Well that was a quick turn around.
RyanMcGreal 15y ago
Realistically, the best way to stop systemically bad legislation like SOPA is just to keep delaying and delaying it until it loses momentum and peters out (at which time another systemically bad piece of legislation will arrive to take its place, starting the cycle over again).
- pasbesoin 15y ago
  With an effective enough response, we may be able to turn this into a proverbial "third rail" that no one is willing to touch. Don't lose the momentum.
meanJim 15y ago
I could've sworn I read a post from them yesterday saying they didn't care and it wasn't affecting business.
- deleted 15y ago
  [deleted]
- bcjordan 15y ago
  I could've sworn they said they would ignore negative customer feedback and spin off a company called "Qwikster".
johnnytee 15y ago
I've noticed they are directly tweeting to people like @aplusk and @photomatt, trying to get the word out. Obviously the community has made a dent in their bottom line.
- marshray 15y ago
  Well not necessarily. Bad publicity has an impact all its own at most companies. For example, they have a whole Marketing department trying to get their name out there in a positive light. When their phones light up with every member of the press wanting quotes (press contacts they've spent years working on their relationship with) the executives have to get together and talk about it and come up with a unified response that won't blow up on them like CarrierIQ. It's a big big deal for a public-facing company. Bigger than, say, a small decrease in the rate of new $2 account customers.
- Avenger42 15y ago
  One of the ones they tweeted to was Jimmy Wales, who had just tweeted "I am proud to announce that the Wikipedia domain names will move away from GoDaddy. Their position on #sopa is unacceptable to us." Wonder if they'll follow through now?
schrototo 15y ago
Bunch of weasels.
gdw2 15y ago
Ok everybody, transfer all your domains back... :-P
- Turing_Machine 15y ago
  I know you were joking, but not a chance. The only effect this will have as far as I'm concerned is to move the transfer to the back burner for a bit (I'm on vacation at the moment, so I wasn't looking forward to dealing with the transfer hassle. Now I can enjoy a guilt-free holiday and do the transfer after I get back). I was only on GoDaddy out of inertia/laziness anyway. At one time (quite a few years ago) they were...not good, exactly, but maybe the "least evil" of the available choices (a very similar situation to what you see with cell phone and cable TV providers). That hasn't been the case for quite some time, but I stuck with them just for the convenience of having all my stuff in one place. The constant upselling was annoying, but I rarely tinker with domain settings after the original config, so it was tolerable. This nonsense was the last nudge that was needed to push them over the cliff.
rokhayakebe 15y ago
Again, the people have won. I am truly looking to see someone productize the power of the people on internet, and urging us to vote for and against a company with our dollars. A place where we can see what each company is up to (socially, and in other ways), and encouraging or discouraging consumers to work with them.
wastedbrains 15y ago
Reversing a decision only after costumers leave you in droves doesn't show your trust worthy. They either didn't understand the bill (in which case they shouldn't write a letter supporting it), or they are only changing now waiting for the bad PR to die down. If you have domains with them it is still worth switching to a company that will always publicly support freedom over oppressing peoples views to attempt to prevent some IP infringement. The rights to freedoms are more important than the rights to absolute control over corporations IP.
- phereford 15y ago
  There is no way they didn't understand the bill. They fully understood the bill and probably were vying for a way to benefit from the bill. Everyone understands how bad this bill is for the Internet, unless someone has something to gain from it. GoDaddy must have had something either legal or under the table that would benefit them immensely if they supported the bill.
ascentofstan 15y ago
GD's response should lie in the positive feedback loop for the boycott. Press on.
pokoleo 15y ago
> In changing its position, Go Daddy remains steadfast in its promise to support security and stability of the Internet. In an effort to eliminate any confusion about its reversal on SOPA though, Jones has removed blog postings that had outlined areas of the bill Go Daddy did support. Translation: Go Daddy removed all incriminating evidence of it's past.
chuinard 15y ago
GoDaddy has been under fire for years for various reasons. While the SOPA boycott was definitely worthwhile and effective, we should really understand the power that the community has to influence a company's practices, and maybe shouldn't wait until it gets as bad as SOPA support to do this again in the future?
- dclowd9901 15y ago
  You preclude the possibility that perhaps people will only act when it actually gets as bad as SOPA. Just as a company is motivated proportionally by money, a person is motivated by proportionally by how much something affects them.
markbao 15y ago
The only thing this means is that community action actually made a difference. That's immensely reassuring. Can we keep doing this, but for SOPA itself?
- geekam 15y ago
  I agree. Let's focus on company, one at a time. Hopefully, with enough momentum, including big names, things will have to get better. I have been calling companies I am a customer or have been a customer of, to withdraw support if they want to keep me as a customer.
- dclowd9901 15y ago
  Businesses run the government. Money controls business. This happened to be one of those issues where it was very easy to clearly show the company that their particular actions would not be tolerated. Not only that, but the difficulty of moving your support away from them was tremendously easy as well. Because of limitations, not all industries enjoy this sort of free market-esque lateral movement. Comm companies, for instance, enjoy the benefits of an established infrastructure to keep other players out, and to keep you contracted with them, even under anti-consumer behaviors. This was just a case of all the pieces lining up just right, and the market actually aligning with consumer demand.
  - markbao 15y ago
    Huh, you're absolutely right. So people were able to make GoDaddy change their mind by impacting their bottom line. Instead of going through businesses to try to tell the government what the citizens think, and besides writing or calling politicians, what can we do?
    - pstuart 15y ago
      Occupy!
      - freejack 15y ago
rkon 15y ago
More like "GoDaddy no longer publicly supports SOPA". Just looking out for their bottom line, I'm sure.
- benburleson 15y ago
  That is the simple rule of life. If you ever wonder why someone/company is doing what they do, follow the money.
  - jrockway 15y ago
    Why does Google work on self-driving cars and cancer diagnostics?
    - objclxt 15y ago
      ...because nobody got rich off pharma, and the kind of AI tech on self driving cars has no real world applications.
      - jrockway 15y ago
        Why aren't pharma companies developing internet advertising platforms, then? If every company did every thing that everyone else ever did successfully... I can't even finish this sentence.
    - skore 15y ago
      I think at least self-driving cars could be explained with: Reducing the cost on acquiring StreetView data.
  - alphakappa 15y ago
    You are needlessly cynical, my friend. Money does drive a lot of corporate decisions, but plenty of stuff is done because "it's cool" or out of pure altruism too. It's possible to somehow attribute even altruism to eventual profits (altruism = good image = more business), but do we need to be so cynical?
- deleted 15y ago
presidentx 15y ago
I don't believe GoDaddy on this, and I certainly wouldn't trust them.
singer 15y ago
I am still going to transfer all of my domains anyhow. They should not have supported it from the start.
digitalboss 15y ago
Here's the Reddit discussion - http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/no6b1/go_daddy_no_longer_supports_sopa_latest_blog_post/ http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/no6b1/go_daddy_n...
- lukejduncan 15y ago
  Is cross-posting links an attempt at getting karma/upvotes?
  - digitalboss 15y ago
    Its an attempt to getting two smart groups of ppl talking about equal weighted topics.... Karma is a benefit... carry on...
ed2417 15y ago
Go Daddy does Netflix.
danoc 15y ago
Too late. The damage is done, in my opinion.
RexRollman 15y ago
"Go Daddy has always fought to preserve the intellectual property rights of third parties." Doesn't that kind of imply that GoDaddy is less than concerned about the rights of domain owners? Guilty until proven innocent, I guess.
- FuzzyDunlop 15y ago
  One could argue that if they fought to preserve the IP rights of third parties, they wouldn't be in the business of enabling the infringement of those rights by selling domain names and server space.
jamesflorentino 15y ago
I cannot trust a company who changes their philosophy based on how well it impacts their business.
- Karunamon 15y ago
  You must not trust any company ever, then. Because that is precisely what a good business will base their "philosophy" on.
- spodek 15y ago
  They didn't change their philosophy. For better or for worse all companies' philosophies are to make money, at least the public ones. They can be sued if they deviate.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
hallowtech 15y ago
They're pretty busy on twitter right now responding to practically everybody https://twitter.com/#!/GoDaddy https://twitter.com/#!/GoDaddy
hrabago 15y ago
This is good for multiple reasons. One, it shows people that their voices do matter. They can contact their vendors and express opposition and if there are plenty enough of them, they can exert influence. Two, it shows other companies that there are enough people out there who are against SOPA that a big vendor like GoDaddy has had to flipflop its support for it because it threatened their bottom line. It will at least force them to have another conversation about withdrawing SOPA support.
savetz 15y ago
I read their statement, and it seems like lip service. The culture of a company/philosophy of the CEO doesn't turn on a dime.
mwsherman 15y ago
This is the right outcome, and they should be commended. I think SOPA is awful, and they were on the wrong side of the argument. Subsequently, they listened to customers and changed their position. (Yes, it’s self-interest, just like you and I engage in.) One should resist the urge to say “yeah but they’re still awful people” unless one is willing to bring the same passion to everyone else on the list of supporters. Again: correct outcome and for the right reasons.
- marshray 15y ago
  I don't think they should be commended for backing away (only after huge public outrage) from a position that was despicable in the first place. I'm happy to forget about them for a while longer.
  - mwsherman 15y ago
    And that’s fine! They’ve turned you off as a customer, based on issues that are important to you. I’m simply pointing out that (perhaps) outcomes matter a bit more than our indignant feelings.
    - despite2 15y ago
      But what is the outcome? In what way does this undo the damage? They submitted a letter of support, and I presume money, to Congress. A post on their web page does not take back any of that.
      - mwsherman 15y ago
        Good questions. The letter of support is negated, fair to say. Anyone know about money?
    - int3rnaut 15y ago
      I totally agree with you. The real story here is that a large player in the internet (self proclaimed "World's #1 Domain registrar") crossed the line--to the "good side", therein lending more power to the cause of stopping this thing.
danberger 15y ago
I agree with a lot of people here. This is clearly a direct result of the harsh public backlash they've faced from the community. This statement can only be taken at face value until they do much more than post a public statement rescinding their support. We should continue pushing them and they should publicly speak against SOPA to its supporters and in Congress. They need to walk the walk not just talk the talk. I am, however, a little confused. Wasn't the goal of the campaign against GoDaddy to convince them to no longer support SOPA? Isn't this a small victory? If people in the community are not going to support them no matter what they do, where is their incentive to change behavior? I understand the cynicism but we need to also reward companies doing the right thing, even if they took some wrong turns along the way. [edit: formatting]
vinhboy 15y ago
Why is everyone so scornful? I am not suggesting we forgive and forget, but shouldn't we be a little more understanding? What's with the "no flip-flop" culture we have nowadays?
- djeikyb 15y ago
  I'm scornful because their "recanting" still explicitly names dns filtering as A Good Useful Thing that they are proud of helping refine. They explicitly say they are proud of and would love to support this legislation. They don't get it. "Go Daddy will support it when and if the Internet community supports it."
- OstiaAntica 15y ago
  GoDaddy didn't just make a bad call-- they testified in support of SOPA and have been actively working on the design of the bill.
rumblestrut 15y ago
I set up a Namecheap account and purchased a domain yesterday. No terrible upselling, pretty straightforward shopping cart (not a fan that it didn't take Discover, but no biggie). Overall, it was a pleasant experience. I'm a longtime Go Daddy customer and have several domains with them. I've thought about moving from GoDaddy, but never made it a priority. But I finally got motivated enough to see the process of switching might not be as painful as I thought. Now that I've seen what else is out there, it's go time. As my domains expire in the next few months, I'll switch them over to Namecheap. At least for me, it's too little, too late this time for Go Daddy.
- weaksauce 15y ago
  I wouldn't wait; the process takes some time and if you put it off until the last minute you will be forced to stay with godaddy. You are not able to transfer a domain if there is less than 7 days left until expiration. do it now and namecheap(or most registrars) will honor the remaining time on the contract and add the year that you buy onto it. really no reason to wait.
  - rumblestrut 15y ago
    If that's true, then I'll go ahead and transfer them now. One of my concerns was losing money on transferring them way before they expire. Thanks!
    - intenex 15y ago
      No worries - additional time gained by the transfer is always appended to the current expiration date on the domain
sirwanqutbi 15y ago
I say still boycott godaddy, just for having supported SOPA in the first place. The problem is Godaddy still does support and only pulled out, since threats of boycotts were made by there customers. LEAVE GO DADDY
- klausjensen 15y ago
  This can't be reiterated enough. A company that is so evil, that it could support SOPA in the first place, will not lose that evilness and rotten culture overnight.
iamandrus 15y ago
But now the question is whether this is just damage control or if they really support anti-SOPA efforts now. Either way, they learned not to fuck with the Internet (their customers).
54mf 15y ago
Fantastic. I guess now we only have shady business practices, misogyny, and animal cruelty as reasons to not do business with GoDaddy.
dollar 15y ago
Until GoDaddy makes an official public statement to Congress, the transfers are still on.
wan23 15y ago
This is great! We should do this to every company on the list until there's no one willing to publicly support this nonsense.
noduerme 15y ago
Hah. I just reloaded HN and clicked the comments here -- I've had a few drinks -- I thought this was the same article along the lines of "Go Daddy Supports SOPA", until I read through the responses. This just shows what a couple thousand mobilized, highly motivated geeks can do in six hours. HN is solely responsible for this. Imagine if the top-ten stories for the day on this board were about the conditions at Apple's factories in China. Or the massacres going on in Syria, for that matter. Something more important than whether that elephant-murdering bastard is a 99%, or a 100% asshole. But, credit where it's due, this isn't the first time I've noticed a shift in public perception within 24-48 hours of a major HN freakout. I won't say how much money I've made buying or selling based on watching this phenomenon -- not a ton -- but it's recently been more than I make at my day job. It's a shame Godaddy's not publicly traded, or we could've all had some fun with it. This is the place where the people who man the engines spend their time. And when the engineers are pissed, shit breaks. Never mind that engineers are just as often wrong as everybody else, just think of HN articles as events that bubble, and figure out if they're going to be ignored or not by the larger program.
- aroberge 15y ago
  HN is solely responsible for this I love HN. But that statement is myopic and over the top. I believe that Reddit started the discussion on a boycott. At the very least, much discussion took place there.
  - jmonegro 15y ago
    That is correct. I'd say Reddit is the one solely responsible for this.
    - Xurinos 15y ago
      You meant jointly.
      - swdunlop 15y ago
        Nono.. It means many different people are solely responsible. ;)
pknerd 15y ago
The power of Internet community. I hope we could use same force and enthusiasm to eliminate poverty from the world.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
ajays 15y ago
Don't be fooled, people. I will believe GoDaddy when they provide proof that they have indeed stopped supporting SOPA. They claim that they've been working with lawmakers for months; what is to stop them from publicly "withdrawing" support for SOPA, while they continue to support it behind the scenes? Until SOPA and its offsprings are dead, keep the pressure on GoDaddy and other supporters of SOPA! Don't let these weak public statements distract you; there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes.
- NegativeK 15y ago
  The proof I'll accept? Publicly telling Congress that GoDaddy supported SOPA, but had to back off when customers told them it's a bad idea -- and that Congress should do the same.
int3rnaut 15y ago
I can't believe all the hate going on. They publicly admitted they were wrong and changed their stance. I don't care if you are a gigantic corporation or not, that takes guts and I can at least respect that. There's no doubt they did it to stop the bleeding, but they still did it. And that's what we want right? For SOPA to lose traction, and for it not to pass. Yet it seems like this has almost become a dump on godaddy festival. Please don't lose sight of the reasons as to why we as rational internet using human beings did this in the first place.
- tibbon 15y ago
  I don't think it takes guts. I think it takes your CFO making some financial projections and your PR lead screaming at you for screwing up. This isn't a very "authentic" feeling turnaround. It feels like PR damage control, which is exactly what it is. Its pretty clear looking at their Twitter account that Godaddy doesn't really understand social media, and from this response they don't understand PR in 2011. In regard to their Twitter responses: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3386961 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3386961
  - mehwoot 15y ago
    Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
- rsa982 15y ago
  They are simply trying to avoid the impending financial disaster that awaits them. They are just doing PR. It has absolutely nothing with what they "really" think about SOPA. It's all cosmetic, whatever turnaround they have shown. How can you change your thoughts in a day ? It's all about dollars for them and nothing else Here is a link which approves of the point above : http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/nntxp/godaddys_response_to_the_boycott_go_daddy_has/ http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/nntxp/godaddys_res...
- sunchild 15y ago
  If someone kicks your dog, and then apologizes, it doesn't change the fact that they're an asshole.
anrope 15y ago
> Go Daddy and its General Counsel, Christine Jones, have worked with federal lawmakers for months to help craft revisions to legislation Go Daddy wouldn't be my first choice for who I want representing the internet to the government.
superchink 15y ago
So, who's next on the list of SOPA supporters to boycott? Let's do it again until we actually make a difference. It needs to be someone visible to whom we can send a very clear message, quite quickly.
gojomo 15y ago
Great, kid. Don't get cocky.
bgentry 15y ago
No matter what they say, GoDaddy hasn't reversed their position until they do so in front of Congress and publicly withdraw their letter of support from the judiciary committee hearings.
- fsniper 15y ago
  what could they say? we know sopa would make us some money but even before it's legilated it started to cost us money than we had to withdrew our support?
  - marquis 15y ago
    "After further analysis it has become clear that SOPA is not constitutional and we cannot, in good faith, support this bill?"
- bborud 15y ago
  hear hear.
- stephth 15y ago
  I agree. This boycott is starting to make a difference, but it's too early to declare victory. We've made it this far, we shouldn't give up so easily. If we buy this PR talk without further questions, then we're fooling ourselves to think we won, and we're setting a bad example. They did a lot in favor of SOPA, if they mean what they just said, then they need to do something against it. If not, it's meaningless and we got fooled. The boycott should continue until they either take - or announce their plan of - action. Until they do, this PR talk is nothing more than that.
shomyo 15y ago
Too late
timjahn 15y ago
They look so desperate right now on their Twitter feed, furiously tweeting everybody to let them know they're once again a "cool kid". I wouldn't put it past them to support SOPA once enough people transfer back/keep their business with them.
- ______ 15y ago
  What will they gain by tweeting the _same exact thing_ over and over so many times?
Gobitron 15y ago
I think a lot of people here are missing the point. It's not about GoDaddy. It's about results. This is a very public about-face, and regardless of their actual intent shows that these types of campaigns can be successful. May I suggest the next target? Comcast and the other cable providers. We should threaten to cancel our cable service unless they stop supporting SOPA. Obviously they will not do this, so we should actually cancel our cable subscriptions!
masmullin 15y ago
Now can we focus on the United States Tennis Association next?
pasbesoin 15y ago
Crocodile tears At this point, perhaps I'm biased and this is not the most productive response, by my personal opinion is still to "nuke 'em". Far too little and way too late -- they were part of getting this monstrosity rolling, and their current action does little to stop it. Put it in the entertainment industry's own lingo: The world needs an "example". And I think we'd have a hard time finding a better candidate (though there may be a some yet more deserving).
poutine 15y ago
Congratulations Reddit. Boycotts do work!
bradleyland 15y ago
This is great news. Now for the relevant question: How does it impact the passage of SOPA? GoDaddy doesn't vote on legislation. I'm sending letters to my representatives right now pointing out the backlash and about face that GoDaddy has done.
erlis 15y ago
This has just proved that we need to redesign the society, we are living with an obsolete model pre-internet. Who need their interest represented by one individual when everyone can have his voice now!? It's really evident that SOPA is an example of antidemoCrazy. I'm glad Go-Daddy changed his mind. Now, this was just one battle, the war is not over! Let's stop when SOPA is no more, let's stop when we can decide what's best for all of us!
vaksel 15y ago
if they really cared about the internet community, they wouldn't have been defending this stuff tooth and nail...mocking people saying that their transfers don't matter to them.
cheald 15y ago
This doesn't mean it's okay to use them. Even if they're sincere in this turnaround (and I highly doubt they are), the fact that they lent support to this legislation at all shows that they are at best clueless, and at worst evil. In either case, they aren't going to be getting my business anymore.
MrBlue 15y ago
I call BS. Sorry Parsons the boycott is still on.
x3c 15y ago
The fact that GoDaddy recanted is significant because any other internet companies will think twice before supporting SOPA, atleast publicly but that matters a lot. Maybe if US citizens could get more aware of the situation, they can make a dent in Media moguls' purses as well. PR matters a lot to companies, if general population shows this kind of activism, SOPA can be defeated. Good luck US, the rest of the world is waiting for you to nip this censorship in the bud before it spreads like the virus in Resident Evil movies.
erlis 15y ago
Go Daddy is knowing how it feels to be blocked, internet reaction against Go Daddy was a reflex of what SOPA want to do. How does that feels Daddy?
andrewingram 15y ago
The cynic in me is wondering whether this was a strategic move by SOPA supporters to remove a very easy source of negative press. I suspect the other pro-SOPA organisations are going to be a lot harder to boycott effectively. The anti-SOPA movement is going to view this as a major win, which may distract from the bigger issue.
sixQuarks 15y ago
It's too late GoDaddy! You're an evil company and have been so for years. Now the internet community has finally seen your true colors. Take your war-mongering, right-wing founder and go to hell for all I care. I hope everyone continues the backlash against you.
samstave 15y ago
The question is now, if they do not "support" SOPA, willthey comply with any SOPA related domain takedowns should SOPA pass? Sure, they don't overtly claim to support this law - but their actions after the fact shall really show whats going on inside. Anyone recall when Earthlink was the only company to refuse to comply with allowing Carnivore boxes in its network? Even though Earthlink, as a Scientologist founded provider, already had an internal policy of scanning all the traffic on their network to begin with.) When the government shows up and wants something, very few companies refuse to comply. Even when they do not support the actions of the government. We should be standing up to those companies as well - but we tend to forget quickly. Nobody stood up to AT&T when they spied on EVERYONE for the crooks in DHS/NSA/CIA.
- marshray 15y ago
  The lone whistle-blowing engineer, the EFF, Wired mag, and others stood up to AT&T. http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/01/70126 http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/01/70126 The reality is though that AT&T is far less of a public-facing company with a much more locked-in customer base. It's very easy to switch away from a company like GoDaddy and they know it.
j45 15y ago
Geeks of the world unite! :)
OstiaAntica 15y ago
Next step: GoDaddy's General Counsel, Christine Jones, who is an architect of SOPA, needs to resign.
hdt 15y ago
A lot of behind the scenes action was probably going on here. Lots of negative scenarios could have played out for GoDaddy. Bob will do as he pleases, but other executives and board members could have pushed back to save key relationships.
tulsidas 15y ago
a little too late now, I guess
Shenglong 15y ago
This isn't even close to enough. I want to see GoDaddy actively take a stand against SOPA, much like (other) tech companies have done. If they do that, perhaps I'll consider staying with them.
walru 15y ago
At this point the damage has been done. Backing down from a position they had such strong convictions in only makes them look like more of a rat. They have no honor and now they no longer have my business.
plainOldText 15y ago
Boycotting is one of the most effective strategies to use when dealing with a company whose actions or stance you don't like. I'd wish more people started doing this when dealing with insurance companies,ISPs, record labels, facebook, heck even the government. After all, they are nothing without their customers.
Canada 15y ago
Read their press release. They still basically support it, they're just temporarily pausing public support because we're all upset about it. Action speaks louder than words. Let GoDaddy know they actually have to _do_ something that is in the interests of a free and open internet. Taking action that is harmful and then giving lip service to freedom and spewing platitudes is not enough. Let them know it: Stephanie Bracken, PR Specialist 480.505.8800 ext.4451 PR@GoDaddy.com
bradleyland 15y ago
Does anyone know when Bob Parsons stepped down as CEO? I realize he's still the Executive Chairman, but the "About GoDaddy" section at the bottom of the page still refers to him as CEO. The article also refers to Warren Adelman as "Go Daddy's newly appointed CEO."
- bradleyland 15y ago
  According to this article, just over a week. Talk about stepping in "it". http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/23/godaddy-ceo-there-has-to-be-consensus-about-the-leadership-of-the-internet-community/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/23/godaddy-ceo-there-has-to-be...
joshuahedlund 15y ago
If they still support the Senate version (PROTECT-IP / PIPA) this means little. I'm ecstatic that the anti-SOPA crowd is advancing by leaps and bounds on an almost daily basis here, but in the next month we need to up the pressure on PIPA too - especially because it's farther along (full Senate set to discuss it January 24)
rbrady 15y ago
GoDaddy previously invested time and money into supporting this legislation: "have worked with federal lawmakers for months to help craft revisions to legislation first introduced some three years ago." Let's see them invest some time and money into stopping SOPA. Making a statement is one thing, but money is speech these days and they can afford better lobbyists than we can.
daniel1980fl 15y ago
I just go off the phone with Stephanie Bracken. She was very nice and polite and sounded more like a good sales guy than PR (perhaps its the same?). I got the story that they have millions of domains and blah blah blah, and pretty much you all are right: "GoDaddy heard all their customers complaining about SOPA, so not to lose too much business we deciding to change our approach". I asked what it means "no longer support", she said GD will withdrew their name from the SOPA list, stop lobbying and encourage other companies to stay against. As before I was aside of this, now GD sounds like a lose flag on the wild wind. This will make me transfer my domains out of GD as they are too unpredictable. What if too many users whine that they owe my domains and GD "will transfer them because they dont want to lose business".
cabalamat 15y ago
> "Go Daddy has always fought to preserve the intellectual property rights of third parties, and will continue to do so in the future" Maybe I'm being overly cynical, but this reads to me like: we still support SOPA, but we're going to pretend we don't, because we realise our customers are against it, but feel we can fool them by making a pro forma denunciation of SOPA. I'm not a customer of Go Daddy, but if I was I would still transfer my domains. This declaration isn't good enough for me.
- balloot 15y ago
  Agreed. They were totally for SOPA yesterday, and even went so far as to publicly antagonize people who disagreed with their position. Their general counsel was also an architect of the bill. Forgive me if I don't quite buy that they're going to stop pulling strings in SOPA's favor behind the scenes.
balloot 15y ago
Too late. Their petulant and dickish responses from the last few days show their true feelings on the issue.
- fletchowns 15y ago
  Exactly, I'll still be transferring my 21 domains out of GoDaddy before the new year.
api 15y ago
Too little, too late. Fuck them. Of course, I would have said that before they stopped supporting SOPA. They've always been a sleazy spammy company whose advertising is full of blatant sexism. We should not have been surprise by their support of SOPA. Sleaze will do as sleaze does.
- rhizome31 15y ago
  I've never been on their website (most of us over here use gandi.net) and was curious what you meant by blatant sexism and I just have to say wow. Just wow. It's so stupid it looks fake.
  - jberryman 15y ago
    Be extremely thankful you don't have to actually use their goddamn site for anything.
- jbm 15y ago
  Sums up my feelings pretty well. Transferred everything to Gandi. Not so many domains (maybe 10), but I couldn't have my personal domains associated with a brand like Godaddy. The casual sexism and stupidity of their ads always grated, but I simply didn't want to drop the money to leave. That was stupid of me, "carrying a poisonous scorpion on your back" stupid. No more.
atarian 15y ago
I've been reading over GoDaddy's blog posting from yesterday, and I just can't dismiss the feeling that GoDaddy's position as one of the largest domain registrars has given them a different view of American businesses facing difficulty with these so-called "foreign-based websites." The blog posting emphasizes several times the importance and need to protect American businesses, which to me seems patriotic and sympathetic to promoting a good intention. I'm sure they didn't realize they would be "villanized" as a result of their actions. Disclaimer: I don't support SOPA.
- aroberge 15y ago
  As a registrar that does business internationally, it may seem (to an American) that it is appropriate for them to be patriotic ... but it is certainly not a good way to continue appealing to international consumers. The Internet should be boundary-free.
freejack 15y ago
Boing Boing is claiming this was just a PR stunt. Thoughts?
Canada 15y ago
To those of you who are able to vote in any of the Republican primaries: Ron Paul has always opposed SOPA. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/11/strange-bedfellows-nancy-pelosi-ron-paul-join-sopa-opposition.ars http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/11/strange-bedf... http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111115/09233216778/ron-paul-comes-out-against-sopa-joins-other-elected-officials-saying-no-to-great-firewall-america.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111115/09233216778/ron-pa...
Hexteque 15y ago
OccupyWallStreet should notice this. A group of people focused on actionable items makes results. A group of people camping in a park makes conversation. This is such a clear contrast: 1) Set a goal 2) achieve it v.s. 1) Reject any goal setting 2) ??? I suppose the exception would be the response to BoA's $5 fee. Anyways, good job community. This is effective protest.
lancefisher 15y ago
I commend them for changing their stance, but I've already transferred my domains, and it's not like I'm going to transfer them back now.
a_a_r_o_n 15y ago
This is great, and obviously from pressure. I suspect thought that it wasn't the hundreds of relatively unknown sites that turned it around. I'd bet it was Wikipedia. At some point even GoDaddy had to realize that this looks really, really bad. Thanks Wikipedia. (and I hope they continue the switch anyway) http://twitter.com/#!/jimmy_wales/status/150287579642740736 http://twitter.com/#!/jimmy_wales/status/150287579642740736 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3387071 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3387071
ricardobeat 15y ago
I can only laugh at this...
spencerfry 15y ago
Too little. Too late.
bborud 15y ago
While I applaud GoDaddy for having reversed their position on SOPA, I believe they did so not because it was the right thing to do but because they feared for their bottom line. I still think people should stay away from GoDaddy. You should not do business with anyone whose first instinct is to support defective legislation when they so clearly should know better. GoDaddy have shown what their values are. It is going to take a lot more than a press release to convince me that they are deserving of my business in the future.
clarebear 15y ago
I wonder if punishing Go Daddy into withdrawing SOPA support made things worse by taking one of the "good guys" voices off the table. That is, they might have been trying to make it closer to a law we could live with than, say, the MPAA.
amirhhz 15y ago
I just tried to follow this link on my phone and it redirects to godaddymobile.com to show me some spam and no article. And they're in the Internet business...? This company just reeks of clunkiness and tackiness. As keeps being mentioned, I can't believe tech-savvy, well-informed, well-educated people (e.g. YC founders) could go on godaddy.com, see their marketing material ("Go Daddy Girl (R)" ... what?!), their interface etc., and still go ahead and give them money.
NARKOZ 15y ago
I think they're lying and still support it just don't want to lose the money.
xxiao 15y ago
too late, in fact will never use godaddy.
thomasgerbe 15y ago
Next up: AT&T and Net Neutrality?!
antirez 15y ago
I guess we can say that godaddy is eventually consistent.
bborud 15y ago
This line from techcrunch sums it up nicely: "While it’s nice that they changed their stance (publicly, at least), you’ve got to ask yourself: do you want to continue throwing money at a company blind enough to support SOPA in the first place?"
invisible 15y ago
Christine Jones needs to encourage Congress not to pass this on behalf of Godaddy for this to be more than just a PR move. If they don't reverse their support in Congress, this is nothing more than a copout.
jaysonelliot 15y ago
I don't care what GoDaddy says to try and prevent a boycott. They already did the damage, and they've showed many, many, many times over that they do not deserve to have anyone's business. The boycott should remain.
EGreg 15y ago
Someone posted this in a comment section and I had to say it, it's clever. If neither side strongly supports or opposes something but lobbyists strongly support it then expect it to pass John Doe. The best way to stop SOPA would ironically be the democrats strongly coming out in support of the bill, which would make the house suddenly refuse to even vote on SOPA, and would cause the bill to be filibustered in the senate. Why, because republicans have to oppose anything Obama/democrats are for. Republicans strongly supporting SOPA would also likely kill it. The house would pass it, and Reid would refuse to even bring it to a vote in the Senate, or would bring it to a vote knowing that it'll lose just to show republicans that it can't pass the senate. If you doubt me then look at the payroll taxcut fight going on right now. Republicans always support tax cuts, except when Obama & democrats support it, like the payroll tax cut being discussed. The pharmacy lobbyists know this as well, there was part of Obama's healthcare law (I forget what part) that big pharma wanted removed from the bill that a lot of democrats had opposed when the healthcare law was written. Big pharma lobbyists told Republicans not to go on a public rampage demonizing that provision and blaming it on Obama, republicans demonized it and Obama for signing it into law anyway, and dozens of democrats who had previously voiced opposition to the provision voted against repealing the provision when the House voted on it months ago, and Reid refused to even hold a vote on it. So the moral of the story? If we want to kill SOPA we just need to convince one political party to strongly support SOPA. The other party will reflexively strongly oppose SOPA and block it from ever becoming law.
7654321 15y ago
"Boycotts do not work." Yeah right. Maybe if we focusing on Congress. Maybe if we stop focusing on SOPA supporters. Maybe if we focus on the media industries that are pushing SOPA through. Maybe if we boycott them and their entertainment products. Maybe they will recoil, just like GoDaddy. Maybe. "Boycotts do not work."
acak 15y ago
"When you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow." - All the President's Men (1976)
jwblackwell 15y ago
I actually think the reversal shows a complete lack of spine and only steers me away from GoDaddy even further.
Supermighty 15y ago
I still want to move my domains away. Has anyone had any experience with gandi.net or namecheap.com any interesting experiences with either one?
ghshephard 15y ago
My lord - I'm reading the response - and it gets worse: "Go Daddy and its General Counsel, Christine Jones, have worked with federal lawmakers for months to help craft revisions to legislation first introduced some three years ago. " Go Daddy wasn't simply _supporting_ SOPA - they were involved in creating it. They used their expert knowledge of DNS and DNS systems to create a system, which, I'm sure, would have provided them some competitive advantages. If anything, this makes them even less trustworthy as an registrar than they were previously.
Cl4rity 15y ago
Does anyone actually trust GoDaddy's word? I didn't think so.
davidcollantes 15y ago
Too little, too late.
deleted 15y ago
[deleted]

645 points by johnnytee 15y ago

I think the positive outcome here is that Go Daddy publicly responded to customer pressure over what was no doubt a lot of 'insider' pressure from the folks at the RIAA/MPAA etc. Getting the public and Congress educated on the realities of information value is a painfully slow process. However, as the wave finally crests I think our grandchildren will look back on this and say "Wow, you all really thought some weird things." (of course they will likely think that anyway but still)

digitalboss 15y ago

The power of reality and real feedback from technology leaders - and not just a suit in an office checking the [yes] box on a document. Amazing discussions on Reddit and Hacker News - it'll be till Sept 2012 that this goes to vote again, let's make sure the SOPA discussion doesn't die during this time. Nice job keeping the fire on this.

drx 15y ago

> In changing its position, Go Daddy remains steadfast in its promise to support security and stability of the Internet. In an effort to eliminate any confusion about its reversal on SOPA though, Jones has removed blog postings that had outlined areas of the bill Go Daddy did support. > "Go Daddy has always fought to preserve the intellectual property rights of third parties, and will continue to do so in the future," Jones said. Translation: we got caught this time, but will not hesitate to do it again.

RexRollman 15y ago
They are simply NOT trustworthy.
- geekam 15y ago
  Fool me once, shame on you. Fool me twice...you can't get fooled again, once you're fooled. ~George W. Bush. The man said it himself. They are not trustworthy.
  - masmullin 15y ago
    Do they actually say that in Tennessee?
    - deleted 15y ago
      [deleted]
    - xiaomai 15y ago
      Texas?
      - masmullin 15y ago
        I know it's in Texas, probably in Tennessee, but I am not 100% on that, hence the question.
  - tdfx 15y ago
    For the sake of completeness: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwxTRNzLZ9M http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RwxTRNzLZ9M
- RobPfeifer 15y ago
  I've met the CEO a couple of times, and I'd say he basically brags about exploitative they are. Have to say I'm shocked at how many tech savvy people use them. Didn't realize how convincing Danica Patrick is I guess.
  - brudgers 15y ago
    I don't know how tech saavy I am, but I continue to use them because they provide low cost Windows based hosting which is relatively easy to use. Every time I look for an alternative, a comparable level of services is significantly more expensive at other providers. I wish it weren't the case, but it is.
    - BrandonM 15y ago
      This is the first rational explanation I've seen for this, so I voted it up. I'd be interested in hearing alternative solutions, if only for your sake :).
  - vacri 15y ago
    I don't play around with domain control much, so don't keep myself informed, but if I were to register domains, it doesn't matter how cheap (or free!) GoDaddy was, just having seen their Superbowl ads, they're clearly not a company that intends to be taken seriously. You can get away with that with beer ads because beer is basically entertainment. But domains are part of business, a core block. You need that to be reliable and serious. Doesn't mean your ads need to be po-faced, but it does mean that you have to exhibit some nod towards indicating you're a professional company. Nice tits are nice tits, but that doesn't make me confident in the technical nous - or perhaps more importantly, intended direction - of an internet company.
marshray 15y ago
They will think at least twice about it before lending their name to such a thing publicly.
- spooneybarger 15y ago
  Yes, they can just continue to lend their name to shooting elephants and misogynist ads. I seriously doubt this is going to have much of an impact on them. So this one particular instance came back to bite them, good to know for them that pissing off techies is bad for business but animal rights people, devout christians and women ( all of whom have complained about various other parts of their business in the past ) don't have any impact on the companies actions.
  - slig 15y ago
    While I agree that their ads sucks, I don't think they're misogynist. Like every ad, they're targeted to a specific audience.
    - dreww 15y ago
      yes, they're targeted to an audience. an audience who responds to sexually objectified images of women. also known as misogynists. hello?
    - DilipJ 15y ago
      most of their ads show some woman exhibiting reluctance to undressing, and then the men around her coercing her to do so anyways. of course they're misogynist. But of course, you have to understand that it's part of the company's philosophy. This is the same CEO that came out in favor of waterboarding: http://www.metafilter.com/42906/Dear-Bob-Im-glad-youre-not-in-charge http://www.metafilter.com/42906/Dear-Bob-Im-glad-youre-not-i... the same CEO that goes elephant hunting: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/31/bob-parsons-godaddy-ceo-elephant-hunt_n_843121.html http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/03/31/bob-parsons-godaddy... supporting SOPA fits in line with that philosophy. The one thing waterboarding, elephant hunting, SOPA and their misogynistic ads have in common is the element of using force against those who are far weaker than you are.
fedxc 15y ago
Agree. They changed their mind because they were threaten. It's not an honest communication, they are just trying to avoid losing money/business.
sounds 15y ago
This is hilarious! More translations that might make your day: > In an effort to eliminate any confusion about its reversal on SOPA though, Jones has removed blog postings that had outlined areas of the bill Go Daddy did support. Translation: we said some pretty stupid things yesterday. > Go Daddy ... worked with federal lawmakers for months ... legislation first introduced some three years ago ... entire Internet community ... ensure the integrity of the Internet Translation: we've been neck-deep in this legislation, and will be pushing the next version of this bill too. Seized domains would have been a de facto transfer to Go Daddy.
- Steko 15y ago
  Go Daddy wants SOPA to pass so bad sometimes they just cold shut down websites whenever big content sends them an email: http://movies.cosmicbooknews.com/content/michael-bentkover-warner-bros-shuts-down-cosmic-book-news-over-dark-knight-rises http://movies.cosmicbooknews.com/content/michael-bentkover-w...
- draggnar 15y ago
  Here's another from last night: > Go Daddy has received some emails that appear to stem from the boycott prompt, but we have not seen any impact to our business. We understand there are many differing opinions on the SOPA regulations Translation: Screw you guys, wait, what did you say Jimmy Wales? http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/12/godaddy-faces-december-29-boycott-over-sopa-support.ars http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/12/godaddy-face... http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/12/godaddy-faces-december-29-boycott-over-sopa-support.ars http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/12/godaddy-face...
mavrc 15y ago
> In an effort to eliminate any confusion about its reversal on SOPA though, Jones has removed blog postings that had outlined areas of the bill Go Daddy did support. Somebody read 1984 and rooted for Big Brother.
- nitrogen 15y ago
  You'd be surprised how willing most people are to just rewrite or delete history as it suits them. I've heard of guys whose ex-girlfriends tore out and destroyed pages of their diaries related to the guy when they broke up. People delete their half of conversations on forums, Facebook, etc. when they get proven wrong, so it looks like the other party was just talking to themselves. Someone once asked me to help them remove someone from a photo (not a family photo, a documentary photo of a community activity). "Why?" "Because he was being annoying!" "But this photo could be printed in the paper. He was there. You can't just rewrite history like that!" "It's my photo! If you won't help me, I'll get someone else to do it." Rewriting history is the norm. Most people haven't read 1984, and I suspect that many that do, don't get it.

Ataraxy 15y ago

Well that was a quick turn around.

RyanMcGreal 15y ago

Realistically, the best way to stop systemically bad legislation like SOPA is just to keep delaying and delaying it until it loses momentum and peters out (at which time another systemically bad piece of legislation will arrive to take its place, starting the cycle over again).

pasbesoin 15y ago
With an effective enough response, we may be able to turn this into a proverbial "third rail" that no one is willing to touch. Don't lose the momentum.

meanJim 15y ago

I could've sworn I read a post from them yesterday saying they didn't care and it wasn't affecting business.

deleted 15y ago
[deleted]
bcjordan 15y ago
I could've sworn they said they would ignore negative customer feedback and spin off a company called "Qwikster".

johnnytee 15y ago

I've noticed they are directly tweeting to people like @aplusk and @photomatt, trying to get the word out. Obviously the community has made a dent in their bottom line.

marshray 15y ago
Well not necessarily. Bad publicity has an impact all its own at most companies. For example, they have a whole Marketing department trying to get their name out there in a positive light. When their phones light up with every member of the press wanting quotes (press contacts they've spent years working on their relationship with) the executives have to get together and talk about it and come up with a unified response that won't blow up on them like CarrierIQ. It's a big big deal for a public-facing company. Bigger than, say, a small decrease in the rate of new $2 account customers.
Avenger42 15y ago
One of the ones they tweeted to was Jimmy Wales, who had just tweeted "I am proud to announce that the Wikipedia domain names will move away from GoDaddy. Their position on #sopa is unacceptable to us." Wonder if they'll follow through now?

schrototo 15y ago

Bunch of weasels.

gdw2 15y ago

Ok everybody, transfer all your domains back... :-P

Turing_Machine 15y ago
I know you were joking, but not a chance. The only effect this will have as far as I'm concerned is to move the transfer to the back burner for a bit (I'm on vacation at the moment, so I wasn't looking forward to dealing with the transfer hassle. Now I can enjoy a guilt-free holiday and do the transfer after I get back). I was only on GoDaddy out of inertia/laziness anyway. At one time (quite a few years ago) they were...not good, exactly, but maybe the "least evil" of the available choices (a very similar situation to what you see with cell phone and cable TV providers). That hasn't been the case for quite some time, but I stuck with them just for the convenience of having all my stuff in one place. The constant upselling was annoying, but I rarely tinker with domain settings after the original config, so it was tolerable. This nonsense was the last nudge that was needed to push them over the cliff.

rokhayakebe 15y ago

Again, the people have won. I am truly looking to see someone productize the power of the people on internet, and urging us to vote for and against a company with our dollars. A place where we can see what each company is up to (socially, and in other ways), and encouraging or discouraging consumers to work with them.

wastedbrains 15y ago

Reversing a decision only after costumers leave you in droves doesn't show your trust worthy. They either didn't understand the bill (in which case they shouldn't write a letter supporting it), or they are only changing now waiting for the bad PR to die down. If you have domains with them it is still worth switching to a company that will always publicly support freedom over oppressing peoples views to attempt to prevent some IP infringement. The rights to freedoms are more important than the rights to absolute control over corporations IP.

phereford 15y ago
There is no way they didn't understand the bill. They fully understood the bill and probably were vying for a way to benefit from the bill. Everyone understands how bad this bill is for the Internet, unless someone has something to gain from it. GoDaddy must have had something either legal or under the table that would benefit them immensely if they supported the bill.

ascentofstan 15y ago

GD's response should lie in the positive feedback loop for the boycott. Press on.

pokoleo 15y ago

chuinard 15y ago

GoDaddy has been under fire for years for various reasons. While the SOPA boycott was definitely worthwhile and effective, we should really understand the power that the community has to influence a company's practices, and maybe shouldn't wait until it gets as bad as SOPA support to do this again in the future?

dclowd9901 15y ago
You preclude the possibility that perhaps people will only act when it actually gets as bad as SOPA. Just as a company is motivated proportionally by money, a person is motivated by proportionally by how much something affects them.

markbao 15y ago

The only thing this means is that community action actually made a difference. That's immensely reassuring. Can we keep doing this, but for SOPA itself?

geekam 15y ago
I agree. Let's focus on company, one at a time. Hopefully, with enough momentum, including big names, things will have to get better. I have been calling companies I am a customer or have been a customer of, to withdraw support if they want to keep me as a customer.
dclowd9901 15y ago
Businesses run the government. Money controls business. This happened to be one of those issues where it was very easy to clearly show the company that their particular actions would not be tolerated. Not only that, but the difficulty of moving your support away from them was tremendously easy as well. Because of limitations, not all industries enjoy this sort of free market-esque lateral movement. Comm companies, for instance, enjoy the benefits of an established infrastructure to keep other players out, and to keep you contracted with them, even under anti-consumer behaviors. This was just a case of all the pieces lining up just right, and the market actually aligning with consumer demand.
- markbao 15y ago
  Huh, you're absolutely right. So people were able to make GoDaddy change their mind by impacting their bottom line. Instead of going through businesses to try to tell the government what the citizens think, and besides writing or calling politicians, what can we do?
  - pstuart 15y ago
    Occupy!
    - freejack 15y ago

rkon 15y ago

More like "GoDaddy no longer publicly supports SOPA". Just looking out for their bottom line, I'm sure.

benburleson 15y ago
That is the simple rule of life. If you ever wonder why someone/company is doing what they do, follow the money.
- jrockway 15y ago
  Why does Google work on self-driving cars and cancer diagnostics?
  - objclxt 15y ago
    ...because nobody got rich off pharma, and the kind of AI tech on self driving cars has no real world applications.
    - jrockway 15y ago
      Why aren't pharma companies developing internet advertising platforms, then? If every company did every thing that everyone else ever did successfully... I can't even finish this sentence.
  - skore 15y ago
    I think at least self-driving cars could be explained with: Reducing the cost on acquiring StreetView data.
- alphakappa 15y ago
  You are needlessly cynical, my friend. Money does drive a lot of corporate decisions, but plenty of stuff is done because "it's cool" or out of pure altruism too. It's possible to somehow attribute even altruism to eventual profits (altruism = good image = more business), but do we need to be so cynical?
deleted 15y ago

presidentx 15y ago

I don't believe GoDaddy on this, and I certainly wouldn't trust them.

singer 15y ago

I am still going to transfer all of my domains anyhow. They should not have supported it from the start.

digitalboss 15y ago

Here's the Reddit discussion - http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/no6b1/go_daddy_no_longer_supports_sopa_latest_blog_post/ http://www.reddit.com/r/technology/comments/no6b1/go_daddy_n...

lukejduncan 15y ago
Is cross-posting links an attempt at getting karma/upvotes?
- digitalboss 15y ago
  Its an attempt to getting two smart groups of ppl talking about equal weighted topics.... Karma is a benefit... carry on...

ed2417 15y ago

Go Daddy does Netflix.

danoc 15y ago

Too late. The damage is done, in my opinion.

RexRollman 15y ago

"Go Daddy has always fought to preserve the intellectual property rights of third parties." Doesn't that kind of imply that GoDaddy is less than concerned about the rights of domain owners? Guilty until proven innocent, I guess.

FuzzyDunlop 15y ago
One could argue that if they fought to preserve the IP rights of third parties, they wouldn't be in the business of enabling the infringement of those rights by selling domain names and server space.

jamesflorentino 15y ago

I cannot trust a company who changes their philosophy based on how well it impacts their business.

Karunamon 15y ago
You must not trust any company ever, then. Because that is precisely what a good business will base their "philosophy" on.
spodek 15y ago
They didn't change their philosophy. For better or for worse all companies' philosophies are to make money, at least the public ones. They can be sued if they deviate.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

hallowtech 15y ago

They're pretty busy on twitter right now responding to practically everybody https://twitter.com/#!/GoDaddy https://twitter.com/#!/GoDaddy

hrabago 15y ago

This is good for multiple reasons. One, it shows people that their voices do matter. They can contact their vendors and express opposition and if there are plenty enough of them, they can exert influence. Two, it shows other companies that there are enough people out there who are against SOPA that a big vendor like GoDaddy has had to flipflop its support for it because it threatened their bottom line. It will at least force them to have another conversation about withdrawing SOPA support.

savetz 15y ago

I read their statement, and it seems like lip service. The culture of a company/philosophy of the CEO doesn't turn on a dime.

mwsherman 15y ago

This is the right outcome, and they should be commended. I think SOPA is awful, and they were on the wrong side of the argument. Subsequently, they listened to customers and changed their position. (Yes, it’s self-interest, just like you and I engage in.) One should resist the urge to say “yeah but they’re still awful people” unless one is willing to bring the same passion to everyone else on the list of supporters. Again: correct outcome and for the right reasons.

marshray 15y ago
I don't think they should be commended for backing away (only after huge public outrage) from a position that was despicable in the first place. I'm happy to forget about them for a while longer.
- mwsherman 15y ago
  And that’s fine! They’ve turned you off as a customer, based on issues that are important to you. I’m simply pointing out that (perhaps) outcomes matter a bit more than our indignant feelings.
  - despite2 15y ago
    But what is the outcome? In what way does this undo the damage? They submitted a letter of support, and I presume money, to Congress. A post on their web page does not take back any of that.
    - mwsherman 15y ago
      Good questions. The letter of support is negated, fair to say. Anyone know about money?
  - int3rnaut 15y ago
    I totally agree with you. The real story here is that a large player in the internet (self proclaimed "World's #1 Domain registrar") crossed the line--to the "good side", therein lending more power to the cause of stopping this thing.

danberger 15y ago

I agree with a lot of people here. This is clearly a direct result of the harsh public backlash they've faced from the community. This statement can only be taken at face value until they do much more than post a public statement rescinding their support. We should continue pushing them and they should publicly speak against SOPA to its supporters and in Congress. They need to walk the walk not just talk the talk. I am, however, a little confused. Wasn't the goal of the campaign against GoDaddy to convince them to no longer support SOPA? Isn't this a small victory? If people in the community are not going to support them no matter what they do, where is their incentive to change behavior? I understand the cynicism but we need to also reward companies doing the right thing, even if they took some wrong turns along the way. [edit: formatting]

vinhboy 15y ago

Why is everyone so scornful? I am not suggesting we forgive and forget, but shouldn't we be a little more understanding? What's with the "no flip-flop" culture we have nowadays?

djeikyb 15y ago
I'm scornful because their "recanting" still explicitly names dns filtering as A Good Useful Thing that they are proud of helping refine. They explicitly say they are proud of and would love to support this legislation. They don't get it. "Go Daddy will support it when and if the Internet community supports it."
OstiaAntica 15y ago
GoDaddy didn't just make a bad call-- they testified in support of SOPA and have been actively working on the design of the bill.

rumblestrut 15y ago

I set up a Namecheap account and purchased a domain yesterday. No terrible upselling, pretty straightforward shopping cart (not a fan that it didn't take Discover, but no biggie). Overall, it was a pleasant experience. I'm a longtime Go Daddy customer and have several domains with them. I've thought about moving from GoDaddy, but never made it a priority. But I finally got motivated enough to see the process of switching might not be as painful as I thought. Now that I've seen what else is out there, it's go time. As my domains expire in the next few months, I'll switch them over to Namecheap. At least for me, it's too little, too late this time for Go Daddy.

weaksauce 15y ago
I wouldn't wait; the process takes some time and if you put it off until the last minute you will be forced to stay with godaddy. You are not able to transfer a domain if there is less than 7 days left until expiration. do it now and namecheap(or most registrars) will honor the remaining time on the contract and add the year that you buy onto it. really no reason to wait.
- rumblestrut 15y ago
  If that's true, then I'll go ahead and transfer them now. One of my concerns was losing money on transferring them way before they expire. Thanks!
  - intenex 15y ago
    No worries - additional time gained by the transfer is always appended to the current expiration date on the domain

sirwanqutbi 15y ago

I say still boycott godaddy, just for having supported SOPA in the first place. The problem is Godaddy still does support and only pulled out, since threats of boycotts were made by there customers. LEAVE GO DADDY

klausjensen 15y ago
This can't be reiterated enough. A company that is so evil, that it could support SOPA in the first place, will not lose that evilness and rotten culture overnight.

iamandrus 15y ago

But now the question is whether this is just damage control or if they really support anti-SOPA efforts now. Either way, they learned not to fuck with the Internet (their customers).

54mf 15y ago

Fantastic. I guess now we only have shady business practices, misogyny, and animal cruelty as reasons to not do business with GoDaddy.

dollar 15y ago

Until GoDaddy makes an official public statement to Congress, the transfers are still on.

wan23 15y ago

This is great! We should do this to every company on the list until there's no one willing to publicly support this nonsense.

noduerme 15y ago

Hah. I just reloaded HN and clicked the comments here -- I've had a few drinks -- I thought this was the same article along the lines of "Go Daddy Supports SOPA", until I read through the responses. This just shows what a couple thousand mobilized, highly motivated geeks can do in six hours. HN is solely responsible for this. Imagine if the top-ten stories for the day on this board were about the conditions at Apple's factories in China. Or the massacres going on in Syria, for that matter. Something more important than whether that elephant-murdering bastard is a 99%, or a 100% asshole. But, credit where it's due, this isn't the first time I've noticed a shift in public perception within 24-48 hours of a major HN freakout. I won't say how much money I've made buying or selling based on watching this phenomenon -- not a ton -- but it's recently been more than I make at my day job. It's a shame Godaddy's not publicly traded, or we could've all had some fun with it. This is the place where the people who man the engines spend their time. And when the engineers are pissed, shit breaks. Never mind that engineers are just as often wrong as everybody else, just think of HN articles as events that bubble, and figure out if they're going to be ignored or not by the larger program.

aroberge 15y ago
HN is solely responsible for this I love HN. But that statement is myopic and over the top. I believe that Reddit started the discussion on a boycott. At the very least, much discussion took place there.
- jmonegro 15y ago
  That is correct. I'd say Reddit is the one solely responsible for this.
  - Xurinos 15y ago
    You meant jointly.
    - swdunlop 15y ago
      Nono.. It means many different people are solely responsible. ;)

pknerd 15y ago

The power of Internet community. I hope we could use same force and enthusiasm to eliminate poverty from the world.

deleted 15y ago

[deleted]

ajays 15y ago

Don't be fooled, people. I will believe GoDaddy when they provide proof that they have indeed stopped supporting SOPA. They claim that they've been working with lawmakers for months; what is to stop them from publicly "withdrawing" support for SOPA, while they continue to support it behind the scenes? Until SOPA and its offsprings are dead, keep the pressure on GoDaddy and other supporters of SOPA! Don't let these weak public statements distract you; there's a lot that goes on behind the scenes.

NegativeK 15y ago
The proof I'll accept? Publicly telling Congress that GoDaddy supported SOPA, but had to back off when customers told them it's a bad idea -- and that Congress should do the same.

int3rnaut 15y ago

I can't believe all the hate going on. They publicly admitted they were wrong and changed their stance. I don't care if you are a gigantic corporation or not, that takes guts and I can at least respect that. There's no doubt they did it to stop the bleeding, but they still did it. And that's what we want right? For SOPA to lose traction, and for it not to pass. Yet it seems like this has almost become a dump on godaddy festival. Please don't lose sight of the reasons as to why we as rational internet using human beings did this in the first place.

tibbon 15y ago
I don't think it takes guts. I think it takes your CFO making some financial projections and your PR lead screaming at you for screwing up. This isn't a very "authentic" feeling turnaround. It feels like PR damage control, which is exactly what it is. Its pretty clear looking at their Twitter account that Godaddy doesn't really understand social media, and from this response they don't understand PR in 2011. In regard to their Twitter responses: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3386961 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3386961
- mehwoot 15y ago
  Damned if you do, damned if you don't.
rsa982 15y ago
They are simply trying to avoid the impending financial disaster that awaits them. They are just doing PR. It has absolutely nothing with what they "really" think about SOPA. It's all cosmetic, whatever turnaround they have shown. How can you change your thoughts in a day ? It's all about dollars for them and nothing else Here is a link which approves of the point above : http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/nntxp/godaddys_response_to_the_boycott_go_daddy_has/ http://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/nntxp/godaddys_res...
sunchild 15y ago
If someone kicks your dog, and then apologizes, it doesn't change the fact that they're an asshole.

anrope 15y ago

> Go Daddy and its General Counsel, Christine Jones, have worked with federal lawmakers for months to help craft revisions to legislation Go Daddy wouldn't be my first choice for who I want representing the internet to the government.

superchink 15y ago

So, who's next on the list of SOPA supporters to boycott? Let's do it again until we actually make a difference. It needs to be someone visible to whom we can send a very clear message, quite quickly.

gojomo 15y ago

Great, kid. Don't get cocky.

bgentry 15y ago

No matter what they say, GoDaddy hasn't reversed their position until they do so in front of Congress and publicly withdraw their letter of support from the judiciary committee hearings.

fsniper 15y ago
what could they say? we know sopa would make us some money but even before it's legilated it started to cost us money than we had to withdrew our support?
- marquis 15y ago
  "After further analysis it has become clear that SOPA is not constitutional and we cannot, in good faith, support this bill?"
bborud 15y ago
hear hear.
stephth 15y ago
I agree. This boycott is starting to make a difference, but it's too early to declare victory. We've made it this far, we shouldn't give up so easily. If we buy this PR talk without further questions, then we're fooling ourselves to think we won, and we're setting a bad example. They did a lot in favor of SOPA, if they mean what they just said, then they need to do something against it. If not, it's meaningless and we got fooled. The boycott should continue until they either take - or announce their plan of - action. Until they do, this PR talk is nothing more than that.

shomyo 15y ago

Too late

timjahn 15y ago

They look so desperate right now on their Twitter feed, furiously tweeting everybody to let them know they're once again a "cool kid". I wouldn't put it past them to support SOPA once enough people transfer back/keep their business with them.

______ 15y ago
What will they gain by tweeting the _same exact thing_ over and over so many times?

Gobitron 15y ago

I think a lot of people here are missing the point. It's not about GoDaddy. It's about results. This is a very public about-face, and regardless of their actual intent shows that these types of campaigns can be successful. May I suggest the next target? Comcast and the other cable providers. We should threaten to cancel our cable service unless they stop supporting SOPA. Obviously they will not do this, so we should actually cancel our cable subscriptions!

masmullin 15y ago

Now can we focus on the United States Tennis Association next?

pasbesoin 15y ago

Crocodile tears At this point, perhaps I'm biased and this is not the most productive response, by my personal opinion is still to "nuke 'em". Far too little and way too late -- they were part of getting this monstrosity rolling, and their current action does little to stop it. Put it in the entertainment industry's own lingo: The world needs an "example". And I think we'd have a hard time finding a better candidate (though there may be a some yet more deserving).

poutine 15y ago

Congratulations Reddit. Boycotts do work!

bradleyland 15y ago

This is great news. Now for the relevant question: How does it impact the passage of SOPA? GoDaddy doesn't vote on legislation. I'm sending letters to my representatives right now pointing out the backlash and about face that GoDaddy has done.

erlis 15y ago

This has just proved that we need to redesign the society, we are living with an obsolete model pre-internet. Who need their interest represented by one individual when everyone can have his voice now!? It's really evident that SOPA is an example of antidemoCrazy. I'm glad Go-Daddy changed his mind. Now, this was just one battle, the war is not over! Let's stop when SOPA is no more, let's stop when we can decide what's best for all of us!

vaksel 15y ago

if they really cared about the internet community, they wouldn't have been defending this stuff tooth and nail...mocking people saying that their transfers don't matter to them.

cheald 15y ago

This doesn't mean it's okay to use them. Even if they're sincere in this turnaround (and I highly doubt they are), the fact that they lent support to this legislation at all shows that they are at best clueless, and at worst evil. In either case, they aren't going to be getting my business anymore.

MrBlue 15y ago

I call BS. Sorry Parsons the boycott is still on.

x3c 15y ago

The fact that GoDaddy recanted is significant because any other internet companies will think twice before supporting SOPA, atleast publicly but that matters a lot. Maybe if US citizens could get more aware of the situation, they can make a dent in Media moguls' purses as well. PR matters a lot to companies, if general population shows this kind of activism, SOPA can be defeated. Good luck US, the rest of the world is waiting for you to nip this censorship in the bud before it spreads like the virus in Resident Evil movies.

erlis 15y ago

Go Daddy is knowing how it feels to be blocked, internet reaction against Go Daddy was a reflex of what SOPA want to do. How does that feels Daddy?

andrewingram 15y ago

The cynic in me is wondering whether this was a strategic move by SOPA supporters to remove a very easy source of negative press. I suspect the other pro-SOPA organisations are going to be a lot harder to boycott effectively. The anti-SOPA movement is going to view this as a major win, which may distract from the bigger issue.

sixQuarks 15y ago

It's too late GoDaddy! You're an evil company and have been so for years. Now the internet community has finally seen your true colors. Take your war-mongering, right-wing founder and go to hell for all I care. I hope everyone continues the backlash against you.

samstave 15y ago

The question is now, if they do not "support" SOPA, willthey comply with any SOPA related domain takedowns should SOPA pass? Sure, they don't overtly claim to support this law - but their actions after the fact shall really show whats going on inside. Anyone recall when Earthlink was the only company to refuse to comply with allowing Carnivore boxes in its network? Even though Earthlink, as a Scientologist founded provider, already had an internal policy of scanning all the traffic on their network to begin with.) When the government shows up and wants something, very few companies refuse to comply. Even when they do not support the actions of the government. We should be standing up to those companies as well - but we tend to forget quickly. Nobody stood up to AT&T when they spied on EVERYONE for the crooks in DHS/NSA/CIA.

marshray 15y ago
The lone whistle-blowing engineer, the EFF, Wired mag, and others stood up to AT&T. http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/01/70126 http://www.wired.com/science/discoveries/news/2006/01/70126 The reality is though that AT&T is far less of a public-facing company with a much more locked-in customer base. It's very easy to switch away from a company like GoDaddy and they know it.

j45 15y ago

Geeks of the world unite! :)

OstiaAntica 15y ago

Next step: GoDaddy's General Counsel, Christine Jones, who is an architect of SOPA, needs to resign.

hdt 15y ago

A lot of behind the scenes action was probably going on here. Lots of negative scenarios could have played out for GoDaddy. Bob will do as he pleases, but other executives and board members could have pushed back to save key relationships.

tulsidas 15y ago

a little too late now, I guess

Shenglong 15y ago

This isn't even close to enough. I want to see GoDaddy actively take a stand against SOPA, much like (other) tech companies have done. If they do that, perhaps I'll consider staying with them.

walru 15y ago

At this point the damage has been done. Backing down from a position they had such strong convictions in only makes them look like more of a rat. They have no honor and now they no longer have my business.

plainOldText 15y ago

Boycotting is one of the most effective strategies to use when dealing with a company whose actions or stance you don't like. I'd wish more people started doing this when dealing with insurance companies,ISPs, record labels, facebook, heck even the government. After all, they are nothing without their customers.

Canada 15y ago

Read their press release. They still basically support it, they're just temporarily pausing public support because we're all upset about it. Action speaks louder than words. Let GoDaddy know they actually have to _do_ something that is in the interests of a free and open internet. Taking action that is harmful and then giving lip service to freedom and spewing platitudes is not enough. Let them know it: Stephanie Bracken, PR Specialist 480.505.8800 ext.4451 PR@GoDaddy.com

bradleyland 15y ago

Does anyone know when Bob Parsons stepped down as CEO? I realize he's still the Executive Chairman, but the "About GoDaddy" section at the bottom of the page still refers to him as CEO. The article also refers to Warren Adelman as "Go Daddy's newly appointed CEO."

bradleyland 15y ago
According to this article, just over a week. Talk about stepping in "it". http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/23/godaddy-ceo-there-has-to-be-consensus-about-the-leadership-of-the-internet-community/ http://techcrunch.com/2011/12/23/godaddy-ceo-there-has-to-be...

joshuahedlund 15y ago

If they still support the Senate version (PROTECT-IP / PIPA) this means little. I'm ecstatic that the anti-SOPA crowd is advancing by leaps and bounds on an almost daily basis here, but in the next month we need to up the pressure on PIPA too - especially because it's farther along (full Senate set to discuss it January 24)

rbrady 15y ago

GoDaddy previously invested time and money into supporting this legislation: "have worked with federal lawmakers for months to help craft revisions to legislation first introduced some three years ago." Let's see them invest some time and money into stopping SOPA. Making a statement is one thing, but money is speech these days and they can afford better lobbyists than we can.

daniel1980fl 15y ago

I just go off the phone with Stephanie Bracken. She was very nice and polite and sounded more like a good sales guy than PR (perhaps its the same?). I got the story that they have millions of domains and blah blah blah, and pretty much you all are right: "GoDaddy heard all their customers complaining about SOPA, so not to lose too much business we deciding to change our approach". I asked what it means "no longer support", she said GD will withdrew their name from the SOPA list, stop lobbying and encourage other companies to stay against. As before I was aside of this, now GD sounds like a lose flag on the wild wind. This will make me transfer my domains out of GD as they are too unpredictable. What if too many users whine that they owe my domains and GD "will transfer them because they dont want to lose business".

cabalamat 15y ago

> "Go Daddy has always fought to preserve the intellectual property rights of third parties, and will continue to do so in the future" Maybe I'm being overly cynical, but this reads to me like: we still support SOPA, but we're going to pretend we don't, because we realise our customers are against it, but feel we can fool them by making a pro forma denunciation of SOPA. I'm not a customer of Go Daddy, but if I was I would still transfer my domains. This declaration isn't good enough for me.

balloot 15y ago
Agreed. They were totally for SOPA yesterday, and even went so far as to publicly antagonize people who disagreed with their position. Their general counsel was also an architect of the bill. Forgive me if I don't quite buy that they're going to stop pulling strings in SOPA's favor behind the scenes.

balloot 15y ago

Too late. Their petulant and dickish responses from the last few days show their true feelings on the issue.

fletchowns 15y ago
Exactly, I'll still be transferring my 21 domains out of GoDaddy before the new year.

api 15y ago

Too little, too late. Fuck them. Of course, I would have said that before they stopped supporting SOPA. They've always been a sleazy spammy company whose advertising is full of blatant sexism. We should not have been surprise by their support of SOPA. Sleaze will do as sleaze does.

rhizome31 15y ago
I've never been on their website (most of us over here use gandi.net) and was curious what you meant by blatant sexism and I just have to say wow. Just wow. It's so stupid it looks fake.
- jberryman 15y ago
  Be extremely thankful you don't have to actually use their goddamn site for anything.
jbm 15y ago
Sums up my feelings pretty well. Transferred everything to Gandi. Not so many domains (maybe 10), but I couldn't have my personal domains associated with a brand like Godaddy. The casual sexism and stupidity of their ads always grated, but I simply didn't want to drop the money to leave. That was stupid of me, "carrying a poisonous scorpion on your back" stupid. No more.

atarian 15y ago

I've been reading over GoDaddy's blog posting from yesterday, and I just can't dismiss the feeling that GoDaddy's position as one of the largest domain registrars has given them a different view of American businesses facing difficulty with these so-called "foreign-based websites." The blog posting emphasizes several times the importance and need to protect American businesses, which to me seems patriotic and sympathetic to promoting a good intention. I'm sure they didn't realize they would be "villanized" as a result of their actions. Disclaimer: I don't support SOPA.

aroberge 15y ago
As a registrar that does business internationally, it may seem (to an American) that it is appropriate for them to be patriotic ... but it is certainly not a good way to continue appealing to international consumers. The Internet should be boundary-free.

freejack 15y ago

Boing Boing is claiming this was just a PR stunt. Thoughts?

Canada 15y ago

To those of you who are able to vote in any of the Republican primaries: Ron Paul has always opposed SOPA. http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/11/strange-bedfellows-nancy-pelosi-ron-paul-join-sopa-opposition.ars http://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/news/2011/11/strange-bedf... http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111115/09233216778/ron-paul-comes-out-against-sopa-joins-other-elected-officials-saying-no-to-great-firewall-america.shtml http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20111115/09233216778/ron-pa...

Hexteque 15y ago

OccupyWallStreet should notice this. A group of people focused on actionable items makes results. A group of people camping in a park makes conversation. This is such a clear contrast: 1) Set a goal 2) achieve it v.s. 1) Reject any goal setting 2) ??? I suppose the exception would be the response to BoA's $5 fee. Anyways, good job community. This is effective protest.

lancefisher 15y ago

I commend them for changing their stance, but I've already transferred my domains, and it's not like I'm going to transfer them back now.

a_a_r_o_n 15y ago

This is great, and obviously from pressure. I suspect thought that it wasn't the hundreds of relatively unknown sites that turned it around. I'd bet it was Wikipedia. At some point even GoDaddy had to realize that this looks really, really bad. Thanks Wikipedia. (and I hope they continue the switch anyway) http://twitter.com/#!/jimmy_wales/status/150287579642740736 http://twitter.com/#!/jimmy_wales/status/150287579642740736 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3387071 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3387071

ricardobeat 15y ago

I can only laugh at this...

spencerfry 15y ago

Too little. Too late.

bborud 15y ago

While I applaud GoDaddy for having reversed their position on SOPA, I believe they did so not because it was the right thing to do but because they feared for their bottom line. I still think people should stay away from GoDaddy. You should not do business with anyone whose first instinct is to support defective legislation when they so clearly should know better. GoDaddy have shown what their values are. It is going to take a lot more than a press release to convince me that they are deserving of my business in the future.

clarebear 15y ago

I wonder if punishing Go Daddy into withdrawing SOPA support made things worse by taking one of the "good guys" voices off the table. That is, they might have been trying to make it closer to a law we could live with than, say, the MPAA.

amirhhz 15y ago

I just tried to follow this link on my phone and it redirects to godaddymobile.com to show me some spam and no article. And they're in the Internet business...? This company just reeks of clunkiness and tackiness. As keeps being mentioned, I can't believe tech-savvy, well-informed, well-educated people (e.g. YC founders) could go on godaddy.com, see their marketing material ("Go Daddy Girl (R)" ... what?!), their interface etc., and still go ahead and give them money.

NARKOZ 15y ago

I think they're lying and still support it just don't want to lose the money.

xxiao 15y ago

too late, in fact will never use godaddy.

thomasgerbe 15y ago

Next up: AT&T and Net Neutrality?!

antirez 15y ago

I guess we can say that godaddy is eventually consistent.

bborud 15y ago

This line from techcrunch sums it up nicely: "While it’s nice that they changed their stance (publicly, at least), you’ve got to ask yourself: do you want to continue throwing money at a company blind enough to support SOPA in the first place?"

invisible 15y ago

Christine Jones needs to encourage Congress not to pass this on behalf of Godaddy for this to be more than just a PR move. If they don't reverse their support in Congress, this is nothing more than a copout.

jaysonelliot 15y ago

I don't care what GoDaddy says to try and prevent a boycott. They already did the damage, and they've showed many, many, many times over that they do not deserve to have anyone's business. The boycott should remain.

EGreg 15y ago

Someone posted this in a comment section and I had to say it, it's clever. If neither side strongly supports or opposes something but lobbyists strongly support it then expect it to pass John Doe. The best way to stop SOPA would ironically be the democrats strongly coming out in support of the bill, which would make the house suddenly refuse to even vote on SOPA, and would cause the bill to be filibustered in the senate. Why, because republicans have to oppose anything Obama/democrats are for. Republicans strongly supporting SOPA would also likely kill it. The house would pass it, and Reid would refuse to even bring it to a vote in the Senate, or would bring it to a vote knowing that it'll lose just to show republicans that it can't pass the senate. If you doubt me then look at the payroll taxcut fight going on right now. Republicans always support tax cuts, except when Obama & democrats support it, like the payroll tax cut being discussed. The pharmacy lobbyists know this as well, there was part of Obama's healthcare law (I forget what part) that big pharma wanted removed from the bill that a lot of democrats had opposed when the healthcare law was written. Big pharma lobbyists told Republicans not to go on a public rampage demonizing that provision and blaming it on Obama, republicans demonized it and Obama for signing it into law anyway, and dozens of democrats who had previously voiced opposition to the provision voted against repealing the provision when the House voted on it months ago, and Reid refused to even hold a vote on it. So the moral of the story? If we want to kill SOPA we just need to convince one political party to strongly support SOPA. The other party will reflexively strongly oppose SOPA and block it from ever becoming law.

7654321 15y ago

"Boycotts do not work." Yeah right. Maybe if we focusing on Congress. Maybe if we stop focusing on SOPA supporters. Maybe if we focus on the media industries that are pushing SOPA through. Maybe if we boycott them and their entertainment products. Maybe they will recoil, just like GoDaddy. Maybe. "Boycotts do not work."

acak 15y ago

"When you've got them by the balls, their hearts and minds will follow." - All the President's Men (1976)

jwblackwell 15y ago

I actually think the reversal shows a complete lack of spine and only steers me away from GoDaddy even further.

Supermighty 15y ago

I still want to move my domains away. Has anyone had any experience with gandi.net or namecheap.com any interesting experiences with either one?

ghshephard 15y ago

My lord - I'm reading the response - and it gets worse: "Go Daddy and its General Counsel, Christine Jones, have worked with federal lawmakers for months to help craft revisions to legislation first introduced some three years ago. " Go Daddy wasn't simply _supporting_ SOPA - they were involved in creating it. They used their expert knowledge of DNS and DNS systems to create a system, which, I'm sure, would have provided them some competitive advantages. If anything, this makes them even less trustworthy as an registrar than they were previously.

Cl4rity 15y ago

Does anyone actually trust GoDaddy's word? I didn't think so.

davidcollantes 15y ago

Too little, too late.

deleted 15y ago

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