On Wednesday, January 18, Internet mainstays Wikipedia, Firefox, Google, Wired Magazine, Reddit, and others resisted government interference by partially or fully blacking out their websites. Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia shut down all American access, displaying a full page black stylized announcement headlined, “Imagine A World Without Free Knowledge”. Reddit showed a black schemed home page urging site users to petition local lawmakers. The Reddit home page continued, stating that government purposed legislation would, “restrict innovation and threaten the existence of websites with user-submitted content." The legislation that was addressed by these websites and individuals was an early attempt to deal with piracy of software, music, movies, and games by agencies not under American jurisdiction. It was widely felt the legislation contained some characteristics of censorship.
Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg 
posted, “The Internet is the most powerful tool we have for creating a more open and connected world. We can’t let poorly thought out laws get in the way of the Internet’s development. Facebook opposes SOPA and PIPA, and we will continue to oppose any laws that will hurt the Internet.”
The bold moves by these online companies were met with at least temporary success, as the bills they were protesting were halted by the congress for further consideration.Since the blackout on Wednesday, many have agreed that the legislation in contention, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), and the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of Intellectual Property Act of 2011, that is, the PROTECT IP Act, or PIPA, were hastily considered, and indeed lawmakers needed time for further thought.
Co-drafter of the PIPA legislation, Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D-VT), chairman of the Judiciary Committee, said, “The day will come when the senators who [prematurely] forced this move will look back and realize they made a knee-jerk reaction to a monumental problem.” He continued, “Somewhere in China today, in Russia today, and in many other countries that do not respect American intellectual property, criminals who do nothing but peddle in counterfeit products and stolen American content are smugly watching how the United States Senate decided it was not even worth debating how to stop the overseas criminals from draining our economy.”
Article comments
1 - Paul Christoforo Jr.
Very temporary. Did you not hear about Megaupload getting shut down? Your behind the times
2 - Paul Christoforo Jr.
and no surprise Zuckerberg is okay with people stealing from others
3 - John Lake
According to the British Guardian, Megaupload was not shut down for posting links, it was directly involved in illegal pirating, from its base in New Zealand.
"Shotguns, a Rolls Royce Phantom and millions of dollars were seized from properties linked to Megaupload on Friday, as the US sought to extradite the file-sharing firm's founders over online piracy claims. In a move that prompted a swift counter-offensive from hackers, authorities shut down the website on Thursday and swooped on its senior staff, accusing them of racketeering, money laundering and copyright infringement."
And Zuckerberg condemns the pirating in general, but strongly opposes censorship of the WWW.
4 - Clavos
There are lots of other sites in countries around the world, from the Philippines to Sweden and everything in between, but their existence does not entitle the government to violate the Constitution.
"End piracy, not liberty"
5 - Igor
I guess that for BitTorrent the only legal action would be against seeders (who are diverse and disorganized), not trackers or torrent listers.
6 - Clavos
Well, they could prosecute leechers too, Igor...if they can catch 'em -- there are many ways to hide yourself online...
7 - Igor
I don't think they have a chance with leaches because it's easy to hide.
8 - Igor
I suspect that the FBI, etc., will go after BT trackers because they are rather central and may represent the right chokepoint for Big Brother, but the flaw is that the trackers can make the best case for innocence, since they can totally exist with NO knowledge of content.
9 - Clavos
Well, their opening salvo, MegaUpload, was the right kind of target.
Although their tactics were questionable...
10 - Igor
Megaupload and their brethren are rather bold in their advertising, and pretty explicit in what they offer. So they're easy to identify and hit.