So for all of you Android owners out there that have been looking to see what businesses are behind SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, well there is now a way. There is an app on the Android Market that is apptly named Boycott SOPA. It works just like a regular bar code scanner app. You just take a product that has a bar code on it and scan it. Within seconds it will scan a database that will tell you if the product you are holding is made by a company behind the SOPA. It isn’t perfect though, it is said that the app itself is reliant on a user-curated list of supporters and is not publicly visible, although the app creators say the list is updated regularly. With the recent stance that Godaddy took on SOPA it is no doubt that any company that has even considered publicly lobbying for this act might want to take a step back on this one. I point to a blog I posted a week or two ago in which I talked about the comedian Louis C.K. and the awesome job he did with putting a comedy special online for 5 bucks. Cracking over a million dollars on that deal. Now the thing that draws me to this as my point is that CK asked that none steal his video and post it, he felt that the cost to view his special was reasonable. Well it seems the people listened! No it won’t stop piracy but I am sure most bought the special because it was affordable and they supported his ideal and what he wanted to do with no corporate BS. So the point of it is maybe you should just ask nicely for people not steal it and maybe you will turn a profit still. So if I was a corporation, I wouldn’t take a stance on SOPA in fear that my company will take a big hit, just ask Godaddy.
