Il nostro Pit (aka Calpietzo), moderatore del Forum, mi segnala questa importantissima notizia che gli sviluppatori di XDA hanno appena pubblicato sulla homepage del loro sito. A causa delle leggi americane citate nel titolo, XDA e tutti i siti simili rischiano la chiusura senza alcun tipo di processo solo in caso esista il sospetto che possano aver violato le leggi sul copyright. E’ il caso di sottolineare che batista70phone è contro ogni operazione di contraffazione, copia od appropriazione indebita delle proprietà intellettuali, ma in questo caso si rischia la definitiva chiusura di siti e forum (quindi anche il nostro) che, molto spesso, arrivano con il solo mezzo della propria capacità ed intelligenza, dove le case ufficiali non riescono o non vogliono arrivare (si pensi alle ROM basate su versioni di OS neanche previsti per certi dispositivi). In segno di protesta, il prossimo 18 Gennaio, XDA sarà oscurato e chi vi accedesse, troverà solo dei link che riporteranno a spiegazioni precise e dettagliate di SOPA e PIPA. Solo negli Stati Uniti saranno possibili forme più dirette di protesta come una raccolta firme da presentare al proprio rappresentante politico. Dopo il break troverete il comunicato ufficiale (in inglese) di XDA.

XDA to Go Dark on Jan 18th at 8AM; You Can Help Bring Us Back Online

XDA is a community built on openness and sharing. It has flourished because of our ability to freely exchange information, ideas, and development. The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the Senate and Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the House give copyright holders the ability to more easily shut down sites (with mere accusations and without due process) that *might* be in violation of copyright laws. It was because of GoDaddy’s initial support for this legislation that we moved to another registrar. If you are unfamiliar with the particulars of the bills, read up on them on Wikipedia.

We had a long debate among admins and moderators about the best way XDA can combat this legislation. Several sites (most notably, Reddit) have decided to go dark on January 18th from 8AM to 8PM. A blackout of XDA, a site with users likely already educated on the legislation, seemed a bit like preaching to the choir.

Quite frankly, we don’t think a blackout is enough. We need to motivate XDA members to get involved and help us fight the fight. So– beginning at 8AM ET on January 18th, the xda-developers.com domain WILL go dark. When you come to the site, you will see links to information about SOPA and the damaging impact it will have on the free Internet. Visitors from the United States will also see a link to an online pledge. Users who choose to sign their name to the pledge are agreeing simply to contact their local Senator or Representative (via phone or email) and politely voice their opposition to the bills. Once 50,000 people have made the pledge, XDA will go back up. We will provide links to help you find the contact information for the appropriate member of Congress. We hope we hit 50,000 pledges quickly. If not, we’ll match Reddit (and hopefully many other sites) and return online at 8PM ET.

If you want to get involved (before our “pledge” goes live on the 18th), Reddit has a fantastic list of ways that you can make an impact. We hope that XDA going dark will help spread awareness and action against SOPA / PIPA.