SOPA and Online Blackouts: What Do You Think?

Updated 9:21 a.m., Jan. 18, 2012

"This is the first real test of the political strength of the Web, and regardless of how things go, they are no longer a pushover. The Web taking a stand against one of the most powerful lobbyers and seeming to get somewhere is definitely a first." - Tim Wu, a professor at Columbia Law School on the efforts by the technology industry to fight Congressional bills aimed at curbing online piracy. (Via nytimes.com.)

Users of leading websites such as Google and Wikipedia on Wednesday will notice major changes.

Those sites are among those who are engaging in their own protests of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), the controversial legislation pending in Congress that opponents say would inhibit freedom of expression online. Also being protested is PIPA, for Protect IP Act.

People can still search Google, but Wikipedia, the user-generated encyclopedia, is limiting access for 24 hours.

Other major websites that have confirmed their intent to participate in the blackout include Mozilla, Wordpress, little-apps.org, MoveOn, Tucows,cheezburger, Fail blog, The Daily What and more, Good Old Games, Good.is, Twitpic, Free Software Foundation, Rage Maker, Destructoid, Red 5, Minecraft, The Leaky Wiki, Doxie Lovers Club, Free Press, Mojang, XDA-Developers, A Softer World, This Is Why I'm Broke, Cake Wrecks,vanillaforums.org, stfuconservatives.net and dotSUB.

SOPAstrike.com is urging websites to go on strike Jan. 18 for at least 12 hours and drive contacts to Congress as part of an organized effort to prevent the passage of legislation many sites regard as censorship and an infringement of First Amendment rights. Strike organizers also encourage participants to tweet throughout the day using the hashtag #SOPASTRIKE.

The legislation, critics say, would inhibit people's access to information worldwide. Also, it would put the burden on website owners to police user-contributed material and call for the unnecessary blocking of entire sites, critics say. More information is available here.

Now that the controversy has reached the blackout stage, we want to know what you think.

Take the poll, and sound off in the comments.