Internet domain registrar giant GoDaddy gave support to the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) last week. It quickly withdrew support but not before a backlash of customer transfers caused front page news.
A Reddit user started a thread Thursday, Dec 22 calling for GoDaddy loyalists to drop their domain names after GoDaddy showed its SOPA support. The SOPA act, also known as H.R. 3261 proposes allowing the government to block any site which has been accused of copyright infringement. It’s raised a ruckus and not in a totally positive way. Many critics are worried that the vague wording within the bill will lead the government to knock off sites too easily.
Users hypothesized December 29 as the day of reckoning for GoDaddy. GoDaddy made bold steps, even making public announcements that it heavily opposes SOPA:
“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… It’s very important that all Internet stakeholders work together on this. Getting it right is worth the wait. Go Daddy will support it when and if the Internet community supports it.”
However, naysayers had another think coming. Results show that GoDaddy actually had a positive December 29, netting 20,748 more domains at the end of the day. There were nearly double the number of transfers in as out (27,843 in to 14,492 out) as well as more new registrations than deleted domains (43,304 new registrations compared to 35,907 deletions) (Daily Changes).
A week later, the boycott has more or less fizzled and as PR initiatives continue to show, sometimes any press is good press. 