1060483 - [Campaign] Integrate Sept 10 Internet Slowdown

Status: RESOLVED FIXED

(developer.mozilla.org Graveyard :: General, defect)

Description

[Joshua Smith [:joshua-s]]

This bug is for discussion, and the possible implementation of Battle for the Net's September 10th Internet Slowdown widget.

Details about the campaign are available at: https://www.battleforthenet.com/sept10th/.  The code for the widget can be found at: https://github.com/fightforthefuture/battleforthenet-widget.

Comment 1

[Justin Crawford [:hoosteeno] [:jcrawford]]

Neat idea! 

Can we easily limit views of this widget to US IP addresses (using e.g. Maxmind's database)? 

:mchris, do we have a specific policy stance on this that would influence whether or not we implement this widget on any Mozilla property?

Comment 2

[Chris Riley [:mchris, :criley]]

We've been talking to the Fight for the Future folk behind this campaign and other organizations involved in it. The underlying issue is net neutrality, which is a priority for us for sure. You can be confident we'll be heavily invested in activism and awareness raising here. We think a diversity of approaches will be most effective, and we're actively exploring what makes the most sense for Mozilla to do for that day.

Comment 3

[Joshua Smith [:joshua-s]]

:hoosteeno Maxmind is a paid service.  Do we already have a license?

Comment 4

[Justin Crawford [:hoosteeno] [:jcrawford]]

I don't think we have a subscription to the geolocation service. We do have a subscription to the data updates, and we serve our most recent refresh from here:

http://geo.mozilla.org/country.json

:osmose, do you have any concerns about sites like MDN using this service to identify US-based visitors in order to show them a widget about net neutrality on 2014-09-10?

Comment 5

[Osmose [:osmose, :mkelly]]

Go for it. geo.mozilla.org will handle whatever you throw at it.

Comment 6

[Luke Crouch [:groovecoder]]

Note: if we throw an https request to https://geo.mozilla.org/country.json for every visitor to determine if they're in the US, we'll be effectively slowing them down by some fraction already.

So, I'd like to implement the widget behind a waffle flag and activate it on dev & stage to test the impact for non-US visitors first.

:hoosteeno - is that something you can tackle yourself? Or do you need dev help with that?

Comment 7

[Chris Riley [:mchris, :criley]]

I do want to interject here, because we have an active internal conversation on how to engage on the day of action and what we can do that will have the most impact - and we really think it's not to slow down Internet users but to drive people to make their voice heard with policymakers, especially in Congress. Other organizations are shifting that way as well, e.g. Fight for the Future, which is running ads simulating a slow load rather than actually slowing traffic.

We have a few things in the works, and Dave Steer ([e-mail]) is the best point of contact on this. We'd love to hear other ideas and get your input on what we've been thinking. But I did want to flag our hesitation with actively slowing down the Internet experience as a demonstrative tool here.

Comment 8

[Luke Crouch [:groovecoder]]

From what I can tell, the widget doesn't actually slow the site down.

https://github.com/fightforthefuture/battleforthenet-widget#installation-instructions-banner

Comment 9

[Chris Riley [:mchris, :criley]]

Cool. Many of my hesitations go away when you're just talking about adding a banner, not code to throttle/slow down users (I wasn't clear at first on your intentions, my apologies). However, decisions of this sort (i.e. banners on Mozilla web properties) are still best done as part of our internally coordinated advocacy strategy, so I'd really like Dave to be included in the discussions well before any actions - and since he's at MoFo, email is better than Bugzilla for that.

Thanks!

Comment 10

[Justin Crawford [:hoosteeno] [:jcrawford]]

I got an email today from Jishnu, who asked on behalf of Mozilla's policy group that we do not integrate this campaign into MDN. Mozilla will participate in this event more broadly using some of our most visible communication channels; but we (the folks in this bug) have been asked not to put symbolic slow-down messages on particular sites.

The policy group is working on some optional calls to action that we might be able to integrate, if we're inclined.

I have some product concerns about using MDN as a platform for political calls to action (even calls to action that are well-aligned with our audience's interests), so I'd like to wait and see what the overall campaign looks like. I've asked for that information pronto since implementing even something trivial will take a little time.

Comment 11

[Justin Crawford [:hoosteeno] [:jcrawford]]

The likely implementation of this is a banner with a link, similar to what we did with SOPA. It'll be a quick change. Marking as "major" so we make sure to work on it before 2014/09/10. We really just need to get the link, review Mozilla's campaign, and craft our message.

Comment 12

[Justin Crawford [:hoosteeno] [:jcrawford]]

Here's some copy and links that we could place in the top-line announcement area on MDN. I think this is as important as SOPA and is worth supporting on MDN. Does anyone have any questions or concerns about adding this message on Tuesday? 

Help us [protect Net Neutrality](https://blog.mozilla.org/netpolicy/2014/09/04/a-day-of-action-to-protect-net-neutrality/) by [taking action](http://mzl.la/nnpetition) on on Wednesday September 9th!

Note: we need to have this in place on Tuesday to have any impact.

Comment 13

[ali spivak]

I strongly support doing this.

Comment 14

[Janet Swisher]

I support doing this, but are we limiting it to US-based visitors?

I suggest a more specific CTA (and a correct date)

U.S. visitors: Help Mozilla [protect Net Neutrality](https://blog.mozilla.org/netpolicy/2014/09/04/a-day-of-action-to-protect-net-neutrality/) by [signing our petition to Congress](http://mzl.la/nnpetition) on Wednesday, September 10th!

(Omit "U.S. visitors: " if this will only be seen in the US.)

Comment 15

[Justin Crawford [:hoosteeno] [:jcrawford]]

> I suggest a more specific CTA (and a correct date)

Thanks Janet :)

> (Omit "U.S. visitors: " if this will only be seen in the US.)

I don't think we have time to implement code to limit its display, so I agree we should include the "U.S. visitors:".

Comment 16

[Eric Shepherd [:sheppy]]

This message is live. Let me know if you want any changes made.

Comment 17

[Eric Shepherd [:sheppy]]

I'd point out that the blog post says nothing about a slowdown, just the petition. :)

Comment 18

[Luke Crouch [:groovecoder]]

Attachment: 2014-09-09_1013.png

The long message looks bad on 1440 wide browser window.