After calls for a boycott, the domain-name registrar GoDaddy has changed its stance and withdrawn its support for the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
"Go Daddy is no longer supporting SOPA," the company said in a Dec. 23 statement on its website. GoDaddy, The Internet's largest domain-name registrar, also withdrew its name from the U.S. Congressional list of SOPA supporters.
SOPA, introduced to the House of Representatives Oct. 26, is designed to prevent international Web-based music and video piracy by enforcing American copyright laws overseas, but experts, along with major Internet powerhouses like Google, Facebook and eBay, fear it may " break the Internet" by changing the way users connect to websites.
After GoDaddy voiced its support for the controversial bill, Internet campaigns emerged, including GoDaddyBoycott.org, calling for users to boycott GoDaddy by transferring their domain names to other hosting services. The threat apparently worked.
[What You Need to Know About the Stop Online Piracy Act]
"Fighting online piracy is of the utmost importance, which is why Go Daddy has been working to help craft revisions to this legislation — but we can clearly do better," GoDaddy CEO Warren Adelman wrote. Aligning his company with the greater Web society, Adelman added, "Go Daddy will support it when and if the Internet community supports it."
"As a company that is all about innovation, with our own technology and in support of our customers, Go Daddy is rooted in the idea of First Amendment Rights and believes 100 percent that the Internet is a key engine for our new economy," Adelman said.
In a separate statement, Go Daddy said it does not support the Senate's PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) either. "While Go Daddy does believe in the need for protection of intellectual property and personal information on the Internet, it is important to find an approach that works for all users."