The war of words between Dana White and Anonymous is nothing more than a misrepresentation of each others views and a bit of bravado thrown into the mix.
Dana White and Zuffa’s support of SOPA was nothing more than an attempt to stop their broadcasts from being pirated and having those pirates make money off their products through advertising. Zuffa’s intentions are and were noble in order to protect their to intellectual property rights as a business and to make money as a corporation. I do not think that Zuffa’s lawyer, Dana White or any of the other powers that be realized the detrimental impact of SOPA on the internet as a whole.
Zuffa’s support of an “imperfect” bill, as Dana called it yesterday, has been interpreted by many opponents of SOPA as Dana White and Zuffa supporting censorship. I don’t think any of us on this forum believe for a minute that Dana fucking White is for censorship in any fashion. Dana has the occasional dust up with MMA reporters but he has never told anyone they dont have the right to express their opinions.
A lot of times when Anonymous brings down a website, its in order to create a dialog with that company. In this case, I assume, it was out of protest of Zuffa’s support of SOPA and to get a reaction from the powers that be. The problem with this war of words and subsequent attacks by Anonymous yesterday are not necessarily due to Dana’s support of SOPA, but maybe Dana’s misunderstanding of what Anonymous is about and vice versa. It seems like Dana lumped Anonymous in with the people who are regularly pirating Zuffa broadcasts. I would venture to say that many Anonymous members may be UFC fans themselves but it doesnt mean they themselves are the ones stealing broadcasts.
Simply put, Dana is just trying to find a way to protect his product from being jacked and Anonymous is actively trying to save the internet from being over regulated and freedoms being taken away. Both noble causes and both causes that I suport in the name of liberty as an individual and as a supporter of a businesses right to protect themselves and make money.
Zuffa and Anonymous are to very different forces, but both will take on all comers when they are confronted and that is where we stood yesterday. Dana took it upon himself to challenge Anonymous without understanding their position and I believe Anonymous did not understand that Zuffa is supporting SOPA, not because of censorship, but because of piracy.
I wrote this in hopes of bringing a dialog out so this thing between Anonymous and Zuffa/Dana can stop. This will only hurt the sport and those involved in the long run and Anonymous’ energy is better off focused elsewhere. We as an MMA community will let Dana and Zuffa know if we think they are out of line, as we have before. Maybe the solution is as simple as having us, the MMA community, police our sport and the piracy that takes money from the fighters. All too often there are complaints that the fighters don’t get paid enough, piracy isn’t helping that argument.
Dana, I would appreciate feedback. If I am off the mark I apologize, but as an outside observer this is what I see.
Any Anon reading this, same to you.