Soapy: an even better anti-SOPA browser plugin

Kate sez, "Soapy is a new web browser plug-in that allows users to visit websites blocked by SOPA by automatically redirecting them to the site's IP address. The Firefox version of the plugin is downloadable now; the Google Chrome version will be finished shortly. This free software makes the practical implementation of SOPA impossible, since anyone can download the plug-in and circumvent SOPA. So--if anybody can unblock SOPA, what is the point of SOPA?"

Soapy is written in JavaScript and XML. It automatically redirects the user to the site's IP address or an alternate site where the content is mirrored. These sites include everything from Wikileaks (frequently blocked at the DNS level) to the Computer Science Department at UC Davis (which discusses circumvention). And because only blocked sites or sites at risk are included, normal browsing isn't affected by the plugin. It is resilient because it cannot be blocked. Technically, all of the rules are contained within. It doesn't use an outside site or list or list of blocked websites, which makes it difficult or impossible to block.

The code is available on GitHub for programmers, activists, and informed consumers. Every site that Soapy unblocks has a set of XML rules that are tailored to the quirks of that specific site. Much of the code has been borrowed from HTTPS-Everywhere and NoScript. Templates are available so that unblocking future sites can be crowdsourced by hacktivists inside or outside the United States (Soapy's developer is a member of this community) as quickly as they are identified.

Soapy (Thanks, Kate!)

• [Michael Roberts]

  I thought SOPA included anti-circumvention language.

  • [joeyrt11789]

    So? That won’t stop anybody.

    • [Griffin Boyce]

      Circumventing censorship is not only acceptable, it’s desirable… if the censored live overseas.  Why is that? What makes the US different in this case?

    • [Michael Roberts]

      Where will you get the updates?  Github will be SOPA’d if they host it.  That’s kind of the point of SOPA.

• [artbyjcm]

  Further more, the general public won’t know about this. I’d say only 5% of people tops would understand that sopa was something you could potentially get around.

  So there will still be a 95% purpose to sopa.

  Honestly, my current theory is that sopa has less to do with copyright and more to do with setting up a system to avoid protests without outright blocking everything. The U.S.’s way to avoid Egypt type situations. Under the veil of copyright protection, as it seems pretty obvious that it won’t stop piracy.

  So far it seems like every time someone tries to stop pirates, they bounce back stronger than before. Comparing Torrenting to peer to peer? Thinking that this rooted primarily from Napster (that was the most mainstream version anyway) and has now evolved to what it is today.

  • [elix]

    SOPA/PIPA is aimed at turning back the last 25 years. It’s 1987, there is no Internet, the recording and movie industries have channel monopolies, and the government doesn’t have to worry about people getting ideas on Twitter/Facebook.

• [invidious]

  Anything of the sort that works on with Safari as of yet?

  • [Griffin Boyce]

    No, though a Chrome version is in the works.

• [anharmyenone]

  Will this help people in countries where their governments already are blocking certain sites? Also, don’tcha just love adverts for perpetual motion machines like the one on this page? I had to click just to get a good laugh!

  • [Griffin Boyce]

    Yes, this isn’t only for US-based viewers, though censorship circumvention can be extremely tricky no matter where you are.  It’s an ever-changing area, and this is not intended to be a cure-all.

• [Kevin Cotton]

  That is a VERY narrow view of the impact of SOPA. It’s not my responsibility to educate you on all the implications of this bill so go do some independent research now and retract your statement later.
  Best,
  Kevin

• [Whitney Renee Sierra]

  The law is corrupt, sorry. 

• [terry childers]

  all the links on the glamrock/soapy page lead to 404 errors.

  • [AIDS Policy Project]

    Hmm. They work fine from here.

  • [Griffin Boyce]

    Thanks for the heads-up, updated the links at github. =)

• [Ayatollah of Rock and Rolla]

  With Soapy installed my attempt to get to Amazon was redirected through the direct IP address, where I found myself logged out. Using Amazon in the search bar didn’t work at all. Disabled.

  • [Griffin Boyce]

    Error fixed. Thanks for the heads-up!

• [Steve Coola ColaKid]

  Still getting a 404 from the main dl. I don’t use FF (tied to an archaic Mac) but thought I’d check it out.

  • [Griffin Boyce]

    The github addresses 404′d, but are working again. Thanks!

• [Finnagain]

  Massive censorship is coming. I’m really glad there are savvy people working on fixes.

• [caitifty]

  I have to admit, this is exactly why I haven’t been able to get whipped up about SOPA and friends – I knew there’d be tech fixes for it almost immediately, and this would a) make SOPA look ridiculous, and more importantly, b) probably draw more attention to it than all the yelling we could do in advance.  Well, that and having your favorite website suddenly become unavailable via normal DNS.

  • [First Last]

    You should still get whipped up about it because regardless of how ridiculous the bill is made by those technical fixes, using them criminalizes your browsing and people will be charged and convicted for it long before politicians get around to reversing the law.

• [Artisticidea]

  Dear mass of citizenry ignorant of the basics of the legislative process:

  It is not enough to have an App to “circumvent” SOPA or PIPA or any FCC rule that might accomplish the same ends.  For 3 reasons, second of which is most important:

  1.  It is not known what the major browsers (Firefox, Google Chrome & IE), search engine providers (Google, Bing, Yahoo, Altavista, Etc.), web hosting services (Amazon.com) and wireless providers (Comcast, Verizon, AT&T, etc.) will will do to avoid legal prosecution under the new laws.

  2. It is not known what the EXECUTIVE BRANCH will do (via signing statements, the DOJ, FCC appointments and “implementation suggestions”, etc., etc.) to ENFORCE a law with wording as broad and draconian as that of SOPA or PIPA.  The guidelines for implementation of SOPA and PIPA are far scarier than the evil bills themselves.

  3. It is not known how the  COURTS will interpret cases brought up to either defend oneself against media company actions filed under SOPA/PIPA or cases brought up to prosecute either providers, content creators or users under the new laws.  If we use history as an example – e.g. the right to organize at work and form a union, or any of the protections supposedly guaranteed citizens in the Bill of Rights – all of the vague provisions of the bill will be interpreted by the local, district, appeals, federal circuit and supreme courts in such a manner as to favor copyright holders to the utmost and squash the human beings.

  Therefore, BE NOT DECEIVED into thinking that a silly app will circumvent SOPA/PIPA.

  UNDER THE CURRENT PROVISIONS, PROVIDERS WILL FORCE SITES DOWN AND PREEMPTIVELY REMOVE CONTENT ALTOGETHER UNDER FEAR OF MAJOR FINES AND PROSECUTION. THIS MEANS THE CONTENT YOU SEARCH FOR WON’T BE THERE FOR THE SEARCHING.

  • [Griffin Boyce]

    Agreed! We should take a hard stand against SOPA and similar initiatives.

  • [James]

     Ahhh, Caps Lock, we meet again.

  • [Xander]

    Is anybody else at the point where you completely disregard ALLCAPS paragraphs and write them off as either a lunatic or a housewife who just found the internet?

    • [Justin Lark]

      I though everyone was at that point.

      • [Xander]

        Cool.  Good to know.  Just checkin’

• [traalfaz]

  I hope this is not just a redirect to the IP address, because that won’t work very well.  Many, possibly most, websites are virtual hosted, with many servers on one IP address.  Unless the desired site is in the HTTP headers, the site can’t be properly served up.
  Overriding the DNS system and providing the proper IP address would work (this can be done trivially on a one-by-one basis by editing the hosts file).

• [tylerdurdin]

  After downloading and installing Soapy…I cannot access facebook. Neither through http or https….it just brings up a white page in my firefox browser all tool bars are still visible but the webpage itself is just blank white page. After disable,  facebook loads w no problems http and https………..

  • [Antinous / Moderator]

    After downloading and installing Soapy…I cannot access facebook.

    So….an added benefit.

• [yt75]

  I don’ know SOPA in details, but for me regarding piracy, if the basic principles are :

  1) against piracy centers and not end users (always centers in piracy due to the need for catalogs and search amongst other things, “peer to peer” also a lot of hypocrisy in the terms and everybody knows it)

  2) No monitoring at all of end users flow, or collection of their IPs, a formal complaint required from somebody about a user acting as a center

  3) All procedures are legal and public

  Then it clearly is the right way to do it, not to forget that if piracy doesn’t create any revenues for authors and creators, it does create some (and not a little) for some people :

  http://owni.fr/2011/12/14/secret-megaupload-streaming-kim-schmitz-david-robb/

  http://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/news/article.cfm?c_id=1&objectid=10626044

  Note : above more developed below (but in French) :

  http://iiscn.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/piratage-hadopi-etc/

  And “zero piracy” doesn’t matter in anyway (not more than school kids exchanging files), problem is when it becomes the default and easiest access method for works and publications.

  But on this, in order to have a real “user experience” added value in buying instead of pirating, and this in a non quasi monopolistic environment (or with just 2 or three
  “monsters”), clearly something like below would be needed :

  http://iiscn.wordpress.com/2011/05/15/concepts-economie-numerique-draft/

  And a little cartoon :

  http://iiscn.wordpress.com/2012/01/02/vestale-sous-contraintes-exercice-ludique-en-courrier-10/