January 17, 2012
Websites going black to protest anti-piracy bills in Congress In the first strike of its kind, hundreds of popular Internet sites such as Wikipedia are to temporarily shut down Wednesday to protest anti-piracy bills they say essentially amount to censorship. What would the world be like without the Internet? Fire up your browser and see what you can’t do.In the first strike of its kind, hundreds of popular sites such as Wikipedia, Reddit and Boing Boing were scheduled to temporarily shut down Wednesday to protest a pair of anti-piracy bills that they say essentially amount to censorship of the Internet. The Internet’s biggest power players, including Google,Facebook and YouTube, were planning to stay up and running, but the shutdown of the other sites and the ensuing anxiety underscored the breadth and influence of the world’s Internet companies, as well as Americans’ dependence on them.Strike organizers say the online grass-roots campaign is intended to inform the public about the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act, which aim to crack down on foreign websites that traffic in pirated movies, music and counterfeit goods.Internet companies have broadened the debate, recasting it from one about piracy and digital copyright protection to one about Internet freedom. Calling the bills well intentioned but seriously flawed, they say SOPA in the House and PIPA in the Senate are threats to free speech that could stifle the Internet economy, drive up legal costs and lead to censorship or the shutdown of some websites. Read More: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-internet-shutdown-20120118,0,5284397.story

Websites going black to protest anti-piracy bills in Congress

In the first strike of its kind, hundreds of popular Internet sites such as Wikipedia are to temporarily shut down Wednesday to protest anti-piracy bills they say essentially amount to censorship.

What would the world be like without the Internet? Fire up your browser and see what you can’t do.

In the first strike of its kind, hundreds of popular sites such as Wikipedia, Reddit and Boing Boing were scheduled to temporarily shut down Wednesday to protest a pair of anti-piracy bills that they say essentially amount to censorship of the Internet.

The Internet’s biggest power players, including Google,Facebook and YouTube, were planning to stay up and running, but the shutdown of the other sites and the ensuing anxiety underscored the breadth and influence of the world’s Internet companies, as well as Americans’ dependence on them.

Strike organizers say the online grass-roots campaign is intended to inform the public about the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act, which aim to crack down on foreign websites that traffic in pirated movies, music and counterfeit goods.

Internet companies have broadened the debate, recasting it from one about piracy and digital copyright protection to one about Internet freedom. Calling the bills well intentioned but seriously flawed, they say SOPA in the House and PIPA in the Senate are threats to free speech that could stifle the Internet economy, drive up legal costs and lead to censorship or the shutdown of some websites.

Read More: http://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-internet-shutdown-20120118,0,5284397.story

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