Websites Have Gone Dark Today to Protest the Stop Online Piracy Act

In protest of the federal law aimed at stopping online piracy, thousands of websites are not operating per usual today, in an effort to show users what a censored Internet would look like if the law were to pass. 

Wikipedia, Mozilla and the popular blogging site Wordpress are among more than 7,000 websites that are making their content inaccessible today in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). Google has remained functional, but its logo has a giant censor block over it.

"Imagine a world without free knowledge," Wikipedia's site reads today. "For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fataly damage the free and open internet."

Wordpress.org has a similar message on its homepage. "From personal blogs to Wikipedia, sites all over the web — including this one — are asking you to help stop this dangerous legislation from being passed," Wordpress.org reads.

Movie makers and music producers support the bill, the Huffington Post reports, which is designed to stop copyright violations, but critics argue it goes too far and may interfere with free speech rights guaranteed by the First Amendment and "threaten the basic functioning of the Internet." 

Patch.com and parent AOL is not participating in today's blackout. "As written, we cannot support the bills. We believe an open Internet is critical for innovation, job creation, and the sustained growth of Internet businesses. We are in the process of working directly with lawmakers to improve the bills," said Tekedra N. Mawakana, AOL's senior vice president of Public Policy.