SOPA and PIPA Bring Day of Wiki Darkness

The Artful Jurist
The Artful Jurist is a blog dedicated to the law and legal issues that relate to art, entertainment, and the artists who create the works that enrich our world. It's published by Amada Law Office with the hope that it will be informative, thought-provoking, or, at the very least, entertaining. Comments, questions, and suggestions are welcome.
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SOPA and PIPA Bring Day of Wiki Darkness

By Richard Amada on Jan 18, 2012 | In General

If you attempted to access Wikipedia on January 18th, you undoubtedly noticed the dark page of protest that greeted you rather than the usual home page. It was the website's way of protesting two congressional bills designed to protect intellectual property from online copyright infringement. Those bills are the Stop Online Piracy Act (a.k.a. SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (a.k.a. PIPA).

The legislative bills are supported by the entertainment industry, which has taken a major hit in the pocketbook because of unauthorized online file sharing of music, video, and the like. But opponents of the bills, which includes Wikipedia, say the legislative language is vague and could result in the suppression of free speech guaranteed by the First Amendment.

Wiki's reaction was to black out its English language site for 24 hours. Google, the Internet search engine, also joined the cause to oppose the legislation by blacking out its own name on its home page.