People who weren’t already mad at GoDaddy over sexism and its CEO’s hobbies are now mad at it for supporting SOPA
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People who weren’t already mad at GoDaddy over sexism and its CEO’s hobbies are now mad at it for supporting SOPA
Almost all web companies are lining up against the Stop Online Piracy Act. You could interpret that as being a principled stand in favor of free speech or an effort to not have to be internet cops, tracking down and de-listing sites accused of trafficking in pirated goods and content. But GoDaddy.com is bucking the trend saying it will support the bill. The company has earned a lot of enmity for its racy advertising campaign and for the fact that its CEO, Bob Parsons, hunted and killed an elephant in Africa. Now it’s facing threats of customer defections and boycotts.
Ben Huh, founder of the popular Cheezburger Network websites, told Mashable on Thursday he was “very surprised” when he learned the day before that GoDaddy, where his company has registered more than a thousand domain names, had come out in full public support of SOPA. He said Cheezburger will move all of its domains away from GoDaddy if GoDaddy doesn’t withdraw its support.
“I don’t think they understand how poorly the bill is written and the consequences it will have for their customers,” Huh said. “We’ve had a very good business relationship with GoDaddy and would love to keep working with them. But if they’re going to support a bill that’s going to recklessly kill Internet jobs, then we can’t support them.”
In a long Reddit thread that began on Thursday, more than a hundred other domain holders have said they will or already have transferred their sites away from GoDaddy.
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