If you’ve been on the internet at all today you might have noticed something different.
I went to Google this morning and noticed the Google logo was blacked out. They usually change their logo for different holidays or historical events, but this time the logo wasn’t visible at all. If you go to Wikipedia.com today and click on the English Wikipedia, you will be greeted by a black page saying Wikipedia is down. These hugely popular web locations (along with many other sites around the web) have changed their appearance today in what’s being called a “blackout” to raise awareness and gather support in their fight against the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) bills that are up for vote in the US Congress on January 24th.
The overall goal of these two bills is basically to stop/prevent copyright infringement online. While the goal is admirable, many online entities believe the methods in which these bills are aiming to achieve this goal “would censor the web and impose harmful regulations on American business” – according to Google. In an article posted earlier today, the Huffington Post shares that – “Web experts warn that the passing of these bills could threaten the functionality of the internet.” While there is a growing list of people and corporations that are opposing the bills, the entertainment industry and many others are supporters hoping that these bills will “stop the illegal copying of movies and music, something that many Hollywood studios, music producers, and others believe is threatening their businesses.”– abcnews.com
While there are a lot of details regarding this “blackout” and the SOPA and PIPA acts, I just wanted to share some resources with our readers so you can learn more about these acts and form your own opinions about what’s going on all over the internet since the internet plays such a huge role in our lives these days (personally and professionally).
- Here is an overview of the debate from ABC News
- Another overview from the Washington Post
- Google’s explanation (you can find a petition here against the bill if that’s your stance)
- Wikipedia’s description
- Huffington Post article
Do you have any thoughts on this debate? Share them below!
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Reading the tweets on twitter with hashtags #FactsWithoutWikipedia has been quite entertaining today. Some are hilarious.
I just went and checked out some of those tweets Kim…. some of these are a riot! I could probably spend A LOT of time reading through all of these… lol