In an earlier blog post, I had discussed SOPA and how it could possibly create censorship in America and what you could do about it.  In case you’ve forgotten, the goal of this bill is to divide the Internet into two sectors. You’d have an “International Internet” and a “Domestic Internet”. International Internet is what we use now – we are free to visit any website even if the United States isn’t exactly a fan of what the website has to offer, such as file sharing sites.

Though I had hoped the billed would have fizzled out, unfortunately, the momentum behind it has only increased because of support from groups like RIAA, MPAA, and GoDaddy; and today many of the big names on the Internet have decided to step up and take some action. Big names such as Reddit, Wikipedia, and Google have all taken a public stance against SOPA today.

The biggest hit to the general public is Wikipedia. Head over to Wikipedia today and take a look at an article – you’ll notice a large black box appears over everything asking you to imagine a world without free information; it’s a pretty big eye opener. This is a prime example of the movement you might find all over the net today called “Going Black”. Essentially the goal here is to black out all useful information from a site (or the complete site) to simulate the United States censoring a part of the internet they do not agree with – a common practice in areas such as Dubai or China.

If you’ve been annoyed today by Google, Reddit, or Wikipedia, take a moment to imagine if this was just a fact of life – how useful would the internet be for you?

Learn more about how to stop SOPA at American Censorship.