Trying to Head Off the PR Deathstar, GoDaddy Denounces SOPA with Announcement

And I’ll believe it when I see it, GoDaddy.

After discovering that not only did GoDaddy, giant domain registrar, support the Internet-censorship bill SOPA, but they’re also explicitly excluded from its provisions in the text of the bill, Reddit and the Internet reacted violently to their support of this legislation.

Hacktivist collective Anonymous, Reddit, and many others have pledged that they would move their domains off of the registrar pending a great-walk-out today, November 29th 2011. Dubbed “Dump GoDaddy Day” already they’ve been bleeding out thousands of domains since the discovery of their attachment to the bill—unfortunately thousands more have transferred in over the past week so they have had an apparent net gain.

Today will only get worse.

Of course, they’ve turned around entirely and now have been e-mailing news outlets to let them no that not only does GoDaddy no longer support SOPA, but they actively oppose it.

Today GoDaddy’s CEO sent a contrite press release via e-mail to a multitude of news outlets begging for mercy and quarter:

We have observed a spike in domain name transfers, which are running above normal rates and which we attribute to GoDaddy's prior support for SOPA, which was reversed. GoDaddy opposes SOPA because the legislation has not fulfilled its basic requirement to build a consensus among stake-holders in the technology and Internet communities. Our company regrets the loss of any of our customers, who remain our highest priority, and we hope to repair those relationships and win back their business over time.

In their way, Anonymous has urged people to remain steadfast in the boycott even if GoDaddy is now opposing the bill this late in the game.

They have been working hard to make it look like they’ve actually opposed the current bill’s form from the beginning going so far to explain their position originally had to do with expecting it to be a job making bill (instead of the obvious censorship, Internet-breaking bill that it is?) It’s hard to believe that GoDaddy’s shareholders and executives weren’t aware of its Internet-breaking potential when they worked “tirelessly with lawmakers” to get themselves a personal exclusion from its authority.

Contrite as he may be, CEO Adelman is too-little too-late and the company should feel the sting of its bad choices. Dirtbags who would work with legislators to craft horrible community-crushing legislation should be strung up as an example.

Before I’m fully convinced that GoDaddy is willing to do the right thing, I want to see them putting full page ads in newspapers in opposition to the bill…

Note: They need not display a fully nude Danica Patrick to get this message across, but may not hurt.