Websites across the internet are today disabling access to their pages in protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA).
Wikipedia, WordPress.com, Boing Boing and others have added blackout notices.
Twitter remains open, as does Facebook.
This is what some of the sites look like today:
Wikipedia
Google.com
Tell Congress: Please don’t censor the web! (sign the online petition)
WordPress.com
Boing Boing
WordPress.org
Wired
Flickr
Flickr didn’t go completely black. Users had the option to make images darker for up to 24 hours.
Craigslist
Copyblogger
Matt Cutts
XBMC
CyanogenMod
WordPress Plugin
Many owners of WordPress powered blogs installed a plugin causing their sites to look like this:
Tell us about a protest page you know about sopa@digitalmouths.com
This is what Wikipedia says about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA):
The bill, if made law, would expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods.[2] Presented to the House Judiciary Committee, it builds on the similar PRO-IP Act of 2008 and the corresponding Senate bill, the PROTECT IP Act.[3]
The originally proposed bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Depending on who makes the request, the court order could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators from doing business with the allegedly infringing website, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites. The bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a crime, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison for ten such infringements within six months. The bill also gives immunity to Internet services that voluntarily take action against websites dedicated to infringement, while making liable for damages any copyright holder who knowingly misrepresents that a website is dedicated to infringement.[4]
Further Reading on SOPA and PIPA
START WITH THIS Why SOPA is Dangerous
- Obama Says So Long SOPA, Killing Controversial Internet Piracy Legislation
- Websites going dark in protest of proposed legislation
- Wikipedia editors question site’s planned blackout
- Wikipedia joins blackout protest at US anti-piracy moves
- Sopa and Pipa anti-piracy bills controversy explained
- MPAA Attacks Sites Participating In Tomorrow’s SOPA Blackout
- A technical examination of SOPA and PROTECT IP
Searches on Twitter
Tell us about a protest page you know about by leaving a comment below or emailing sopa@digitalmouths.com
