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Life & fun · December 17, 2011

IT

Ideas to work around SOPA

Over breakfast, I thought about how to circumvent SOPA (as I understand it). Key problem: SOPA allows the government to tell DNS servers to stop linking certain website addresses to their IPs. Abstract Solution: Remove the need for DNS servers in the majority of cases. Idea 1: Have a list of IP addresses stored in each browser so they don't have to be resolved. Just have an associative array somewhere that contains a bunch of really popular websites. Every time the browser auto upgrades, it updates and expands its list of IPs. This could be done as a plugin for most modern browsers. Idea 2:…

Ideas to work around SOPA launched on December 17, 2011 with 10 votes, #56 of 254 launches that month and more than 50% of that year's launches.

Alternativestop 22% of December 2011

In plain words

Ideas to Work Around SOPA proposes technical approaches to bypass DNS-based website blocking as outlined in the SOPA legislation. The project suggests two main strategies: embedding popular website IP addresses directly in browser plugins to eliminate DNS dependency, and creating a Facebook application that provides direct IP links to commonly accessed sites. This is for individuals concerned about potential internet censorship and seeking workarounds to government-mandated domain blocking.

written from the facts on this page · September 2026

From the sources

In the maker’s words, at launch

Over breakfast, I thought about how to circumvent SOPA (as I understand it). Key problem: SOPA allows the government to tell DNS servers to stop linking certain website addresses to their IPs. Abstract Solution: Remove the need for DNS servers in the majority of cases. Idea 1: Have a list of IP addresses stored in…

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Source: Show HN post ↗ · launch text quoted in part

Launched alongside, December 2011

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