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Black Wednesday: Websites Go Dark For SOPA Protest (PHOTOS)

The Huffington Post Canada  
First Posted: 01/18/12 08:43 AM ET Updated: 01/18/12 08:51 AM ET

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More than 7,000 websites — including Wikipedia and Google — went dark Jan. 18 to protest anti-piracy legislation currently making its way through the U.S. Congress. Sites in opposition either "went dark" or posted information to educate visitors about bills H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), and S. 968, the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), two pieces of legislation meant to curb copyright infringement.

The Huffington Post Canada also darkened its home page for several hours. Michael Geist wrote in this blog about the implications of SOPA on Canada:


Some of the Internet's leading websites, including Wikipedia, Reddit, Mozilla, WordPress, and BoingBoing, will go dark tomorrow to protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA). The U.S. bills have generated massive public protest over proposed provisions that could cause enormous harm to the Internet and freedom of speech. My blog will join the protest by going dark tomorrow. While there is little that Canadians can do to influence U.S. legislation, there are many reasons why I think it is important for Canadians to participate. READ MORE..

Here is a collection of front pages as they appeared the morning of Jan. 18, 2012, Black Wednesday:

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More than 7,000 websites — including Wikipedia and Google — went dark Jan. 18 to protest anti-piracy legislation currently making its way through the U.S. Congress. Sites in opposition either "wen...
More than 7,000 websites — including Wikipedia and Google — went dark Jan. 18 to protest anti-piracy legislation currently making its way through the U.S. Congress. Sites in opposition either "wen...
More than 7,000 websites — including Wikipedia and Google — went dark Jan. 18 to protest anti-piracy legislation currently making its way through the U.S. Congress. Sites in opposition either "wen...
More than 7,000 websites — including Wikipedia and Google — went dark Jan. 18 to protest anti-piracy legislation currently making its way through the U.S. Congress. Sites in opposition either "wen...
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Read more from Huffington Post bloggers:
Jonathan Heath

Jonathan Heath: How SOPA Will Affect the World of Web Video

Think of all the amazing things that web video can do whether it is making you laugh, keeping you informed, encouraging your opinion, testing your beliefs, making you listen, giving you advice and numerous others. These are now all under threat thanks to SOPA.
Christina Gagnier

Christina Gagnier: While the Net Goes Dark for SOPA and PIPA, Register to Vote

January 18 reflects the commitment of the technology community to take a stand when it comes to policies that would serve to cripple the openness and values that have made the Internet so robust.

More in Canada...


 
 
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
RickRude
87 Fans
 
04:45 PM on 01/18/2012
If internet companies and sites really want to effect support for SOPA and cause outrage, encourage some of the porn sites to blackout for a day. Those congressmans' and senators' phones and inboxes will be jammed (and according to some research, mostly from the Red states)
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sourpatch575
32 Fans
04:17 PM on 01/18/2012
What the heck! Most of the sites aren't even censored anymore and it's still the 18th! How long did this thing last for????
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
greenmonk
The Only Thing We Have to Fear Is Fear Itself
94 Fans
03:39 PM on 01/18/2012
Am I missing something? Its still Wednesday and HuffPost looks like business as usual.
Where is that screen shot from?
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Nick Urfe
2 Fans
02:02 PM on 01/18/2012
Both Betabrand.com and COLOURlovers.com have really interesting SOPA protests on their front pages. ;)
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
JeanFrancois Lord
31 Fans
01:20 PM on 01/18/2012
The worst thing about censorship is (%##%#@ ^#@#^@# and #%@%^@ for @#%@^#@#)*^&%&*
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
SeanMartin
Everything in moderation.
806 Fans
01:13 PM on 01/18/2012
Last night on NPR, a representative of the government said that the purpose of SOPA was to go after "rogue international sites" that were selling unlicensed prescription drugs and pirated movies. That sounds reasonable, of course... until I wake up this morning and find that a major cable corporation in the US wants Yahoo, Google and YouTube all declared "rogue sites".

And there's the future, folks. Think about it before you start laughing at all these one-day black outs.
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HUFFPOST SUPER USER
montezaro
33 Fans
10:03 AM on 01/18/2012
And they dare to talk about the freedom of speech and the internet in China and Iran????
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