Today marks the largest online protest in history, with many sites being blacked out to support Stop SOPA and PIPA. I initially addressed this issue a couple months ago in The Day the Internet Died. For those of you still in the dark – pun obviously intended – SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) are two bills designed to censor the Internet. According to sopastrike.com, “On January 24th, Congress will vote to pass internet censorship in the Senate, even though the vast majority of Americans are opposed. We need to kill the bill – PIPA in the Senate and SOPA in the House – to protect our rights to free speech, privacy and prosperity.”
So today, many of the largest names on the Web are blacking out their content to show the world what the Internet will be like if the bills pass. Check it out.
Wikipedia
Mozilla
WordPress
icanhascheezburger network
Tumblr
Flickr
Turntable.fm
Imgur
These are just a few of the sites that are publicly taking a stand against SOPA/PIPA on their pages. Hundreds of other sites have been confirmed, and thousands of personal blogs are following suit. You can see a comprehensive list of supporting sites at sopastrike.com. You can also black out your site and/or sign the Google End Piracy, Not Liberty petition to do your part.
This is very real. And it’s happening. And it will affect everyone. What are you going to do to stop it?
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