Day By Day,  SOPA

Day By Day January 18, 2012 – Stop Online Piracy Act in the House and the PROTECT IP Act in the Senate



Day By Day by Chris Muir

Just say NO.

Wikipedia and thousands of other websites went black Wednesday to protest two anti-piracy bills in Congress, and the dramatic virtual demonstration quickly seemed to be making an impact.

The protest quickly caught the attention of Net users across America and prompted a frenzy of media coverage, while exacerbating the divide between Silicon Valley and Hollywood over the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House and the PROTECT IP Act in the Senate.

At the same time, signs pointed to a possible political shift on Capitol Hill. Arizona Republican Rep. Ben Quayle pulled his support of the House’s anti-piracy measure just a day before websites like Wikipedia, Reddit and others went dark, while a spokesman for GOP Rep. Lee Terry told a local Nebraska newspaper on Wednesday that the congressman will withdraw his backing too.

It all began at midnight, as the English version of Wikipedia went offline. Blogging software WordPress “censored” items on its home page, while Craigslist hit visitors with a call to action. Google stayed open for search, but covered the company logo with a black box. Mozilla and Reddit joined the protest at 8 a.m.

Members of Congress – stop it!