Never mind worrying about the Ides of March because Black March is coming

Now that all the back slapping and virtual high-five’ing over making Congress backtrack on SOPA and PIPA is over with one has to wonder what is next because if you think that this is the end of it you are living in a dream world. Either as a reworked bill or just the same thing with a different name we are going to see the entertainment bought Congress try to pass something similar.

It’s a good feeling to think that we have actually had an effect on government policy but the reality is that unless we step up our opposition to anything like this crap that rears up its ugly they will get something like this passed into law.

The question is – what can we do to keep up the pressure and maybe even take the fight to those companies behind policies like SOPA or PIPA?

Well the folks behind a new site called MegaUprising have an idea and they are calling it Black March and it a movement to get right in the face of those entertainment companies pushing draconian and hurtful policies; and where it counts the most – in their bottom line.

Now before you discount this as just some other nerd trying to get some web brownie points you have to realize who some of the people supporting MegaUprising are. Three of the main groups supporting the site and the movement are the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Mozilla, and Creative Commons.

So what is Black March then?

From their initial post about the movement

Another protest is building steam. This time, its a boycott aimed directly at big media, calledBlack March. For the entire month of march, consumers are encouraged to not buy any media. Personally, I like the idea of this even better than the web blackout, as effective as it was. Sony, Disney, Fox, Paramount and the WB seem to think they are invulnerable because we, as consumers, have grown so dependent on them for our entertainment. Hopefully, a good participation level will show them exactly how wrong they are.

They are also propose that any boycott should also include “occupying” theaters, DVD rental stores, and any other brick and mortar that makes money by selling products and service from companies that support things like SOPA and PIPA.

Additionally, as we found out, there are a large number of non-entertainment industries that supported SOPA and PIPA and some are suggesting that they also be boycotted. The problem is that it is very difficult to identify all the products from the companies who supported the policies; unless you own an Android smartphone that is.

If you also want to engage in this type of product activism you can head over to the Android Market and grab yourself a copy of Boycott SOPA which will let you scan in the barcode for any product and be able to find out if the company behind the product is a supporter of SOPA and PIPA.

I really hope that people get behind these kinds of ideas and actually make their voice heard through their wallets because that is what companies like these really hear and care about, as do the politicians.