Black Outed Sites Allover the net on 15th Jan

Sites around the world, including Wikipedia, Google, Reddit, WordPress, Firefox and Wired, blacked out their sites or portions of their sites, in a protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect Intellectual Property Act being considered in the U.S. Congress. The SOPA Strike, coordinated at sopastrike.com, was dominated by sites based in the USA, run between 8AM EST and end at 8PM EST.
Wikipedia blacked out their site for 24 hours, providing a page with the heading, “Imagine a world without free knowledge”. Read on to see how other sites joined in the protest.

Google blacked out its name on the search page. Clicking on the black box took users to information about why Google opposes SOPA.



WordPress.org blacks out all recent posts.



Wired blacks out everything except for the three words, “Why Censored Wired”, and offers an option to “uncensor this page”.



Reddit states, “SOPA and PIPA damage Reddit. Today we fight back.”



Cheezburger informs visitors that the site “needs your help”.



Firefox takes an informative approach to the online strike.



Bit Torrent site TorrentFreak gives visitors a choice, “Save the Internet” or “Meh”.



IMGUR, the Simple Image Sharer, informs us that the internet is on strike.



MLG (Major League Games) takes a minimist approach.



Minecraft company Mojang says, “PIPA and SOPA? How about NOPA!”



Activist movement Moveon.org invites visitors to sign the petition. “The government must not be allowed to censor the Internet at the request of powerful lobbyists. Say NO to Internet censorship.”




Gizmodo brings in the image of corporate bully Smithers from The Simpsons.



CEA (Consumer Electronics Association) called for visitors to stand up for innovation.



Bit Torrent site Demonoid faded out content, acknowledging the impact SOPA and PIPA would have on the site.



Dinosaur Comics placed a red censored notice over content.



Aljadeed television broadcasting site joined in, with links to Wikipedia, Google and fightforthefuture.org/pipa.



Ars Technica designed a special banner promoting SOPA Resistance Day.



BoingBoing produced a 503 message, inviting visitors to sign a petition.



Craiglist produced a simple message, naming corporations who were likely to benefit from the crackdown.



Social game producer Zynga released images featuring Words With Friends, Hanging With Friends and Scramble, spelling out the company’s stance on SOPA.




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