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:
