The Internet Goes "Dark"

Wikipedia, Google Join Historic Campaign against SOPA and PIPA

It's described as the largest online protest in history.

Websites went "dark" in a demonstration against separate anti-piracy bills moving through the U.S. Senate and House, respectively. The acronym for the House legislation is SOPA; the Senate's is PIPA.

The English version of web giant Wikipedia led the way.

According to comScore, 25-million people a day visit Wikipedia. This message greeted them:

Wikipedia Protests SOPA and PIPA

Wikipedia could still be accessed in French, Spanish, German, Russian and other languages.

Google went "dark," with a symbolic visual. A call-to-action appeared when I placed my cursor over it:

Google Goes "Dark"

Wordpress, one of my blogging tools, joined the online protest, censoring itself. Here is its home page:

WordPress Censors Itself

Flickr participated, too. The photo service asked me if I wanted to join the online, "awareness" campaign:

Flickr Campaign Message

Neither Facebook nor Twitter are involved in the massive campaign. Here are some engaged websites.

So far, my ability to use the Internet remains unaffected.

Still, it's an incredible show of Internet muscle, a huge digital-billboard-like campaign.

UPDATE NO. 1:
Congress indefinitely postponed anti-piracy legislation on Jan. 20, 2012. According to the Associated Press:

“The demise, at least for the time being, of the anti-piracy bills was a clear victory for Silicon Valley over Hollywood… .” Full story here.