Eshoo: More Than 10,000 Sites Join SOPA Protest

Sites range from either going dark completely or just blocking its logo

By John Eggerton -- Broadcasting & Cable, 1/18/2012 3:05:48 PM

According to Rep Anna Eshoo (D-Calif.), whose district is home to many Sillicon Valley critics of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), says that more than 10,000 Web sites have joined the protest of the bill.

"History is being made by the more than 10,000 websites that have chosen to boycott SOPA by participating in today's blackout," said Eshoo, who is a vocal opponent of the bill.

"Members of Congress need to hear about the consequences of SOPA, and when they do, they'll learn of the serious consequences to the Internet the bill poses. It's time to pull up the emergency brake on this legislation."

Actually, SOPA has already been slowed, and much of the energy of opponents is now turning to planned Senate floor consideration of Senate version, the PROTECT IP Act, or PIPA, which unlike SOPA has already been voted out of committee.

Sites are participating in a variety of ways, from going dark to Google's approach of just blocking out its logo but remaining open for business. Wikipedia took something of a middle ground, with its site dark, but accessible via searches, with items coming up briefly before a new screen comes up saying: "Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge." Interestingly, entries on SOPA and PIPA are not replaced with that message but are available for leisurely perusal.