The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA), controversial Hollywood-backed bills that legislators are looking to pass to thwart copyright infringement and online piracy, have sparked a grass-roots movement from opponents. On Wednesday, many blacked out their Web sites in protest of the possible laws, which they say would censor the Web and hamper innovation.
SOPA and PIPA, voting on which could begin as early as next week, seek to put an end to the online piracy of movies, music, software and other intellectual property, and would give the U.S. government and copyright holders the authority to seek court orders against Web sites that infringe upon, pirate or counterfeit that intellectual property. The bill, however, also would allow copyright holders and the U.S. Department of Justice to go after Web sites that are unwittingly connected to offending sites. The bills, critics have said, would pull Internet service providers into the fold to block customers from accessing offending sites.
Here we look at some of the sites that shut down in their stance against SOPA and PIPA.
