Websites Go Dark in Protest of SOPA, PIPA

(EndPlay Staff Reports) - Some Internet giants protested proposed federal anti-piracy legislation by conducting a blackout on Wednesday.

Participants included the English version of Wikipedia, Reddit and Boing Boing. Wikipedia is blacking out its site for 24 hours. Google added a link to its homepage with information about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). 

The companies are opposed to the legislation, which seeks to prevent media hosted on foreign servers, including online piracy of films, reported Yahoo! News . SOPA is now in the U.S. House of Representatives. 

Meanwhile, a companion bill in the U.S. Senate dubbed PROTECTIP (PIPA) is also facing opposition.

Wikipedia's opposition stems from its concern that SOPA would hurt a free and open Internet. Other opponents include consumer electronics organizations and NetCoalition.

Recording and movie industry organizations support the proposed legislation. Time-Warner is among the supporters, reported Yahoo! News. 

Organizers of the SOPA Strike asked participating websites to black out their content for 12 hours. Many sites also added messages encouraging site visitors to contact their congressional representatives, according to webmonkey.com . 

Congress has signaled it may back off support for the legislation. A requirement in each bill that would have compelled U.S. Internet service providers to cut off access to foreign sites accused of piracy has been removed, reported CNET .

According to MSNBC , the Obama administration has also expressed concern over the proposals.

“We’re still going forward. The news is encouraging, but these things are far from dead,” Reddit general manager Erik Martin told Forbes . “And we’re really going to try to send a big message here.”