UPDATE 12/29/11 8:49 PM EST: Burned By Fleeing Customers, GoDaddy No Longer Just ‘Doesn’t Support’ But Actually “OPPOSES” SOPA

UPDATE 12/23/11 3:48 PM EST: GoDaddy No Longer Supports SOPA. Their statement:

Go Daddy is no longer supporting SOPA, the “Stop Online Piracy Act” currently working its way through U.S. Congress.

“Fighting online piracy is of the utmost importance, which is why Go Daddy has been working to help craft revisions to this legislation—but we can clearly do better,” Warren Adelman, Go Daddy’s newly appointed CEO, said. “It’s very important that all Internet stakeholders work together on this. Getting it right is worth the wait. Go Daddy will support it when and if the Internet community supports it.”"As a company that is all about innovation, with our own technology and in support of our customers, Go Daddy is rooted in the idea of First Amendment Rights and believes 100 percent that the Internet is a key engine for our new economy.”

SOPA was introduced to expand the ability of the U.S. Justice Department to take down websites overseas that deal in fake merchandise or violate copyrights. Many opposed to the bill believe it can potentially be used to take down legitimate sites that don’t actually contain infringing content or were acting in good faith. U.S. law enforcement has recently come under fire for the wrongful year-long seizure of a legitimate blog for alleged copyright infringement.

After a list of companies that support SOPA was published, many blogs highlighted GoDaddy’s inclusion on the list. Boycotts have since emerged and spread throughout social media sites Twitter and Facebook. A boycott post on Reddit contains over 2500 comments, many from upset customers vowing to transfer their domains out on December 29th, dubbed as “move your domain away from GoDaddy day”.

Some notable figures have publicly expressed their decision to transfer out their domains such as Cheezburger CEO Ben Huh, and with it is expected many other known individuals and organizations will soon follow suit.

GoDaddy has since posted their position on SOPA with no ability of customers to comment. Some competing domain registrars such as NameCheap and Name.com have offered special anti-GoDaddy/anti-SOPA transfer coupons in light of the boycotts.

Word from our CEO Sharon Hayes:

Our company does not support SOPA as it currently stands in any shape or form. Although we do keep a large number of domains at GoDaddy, this is to facilitate transfers to buyers who prefer GoDaddy as their registrar. Should we see this situation change, we will certainly reevaluate our options. As always, our priority is to provide the best service and convenience possible to our clients and customers.

We appreciate that whether you are an existing customer or prospective one, you may not take the same position we do. Should you be interested in any domains we have registered with GoDaddy, we will, of course help facilitate the transfer to the registrar of your choice.