Wikipedia, Google Protest the Stop Online Piracy Act

You're going to be out of luck today if you are planning on doing some last-minute homework or need to settle a bet. Wikipedia has gone dark for the day in a protest over the Stop Online Piracy Act.

Google, Mozilla, Reddit, and others have joined in by either shutting down for a day or using art to draw attention to the legislation.

"The online protests are being joined by a physical demonstration in New York City, where thousands of representatives from the city's tech industry plan to demonstrate outside the offices of Sens. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Kristen Gillibrand (D-N.Y.), co-sponsors of the Senate version of SOPA," according to the Huffington Post.

The entertainment industry mainly supports the bill, which is intended to prevent online piracy of things like movies and music. However, Google said on their page the legislation would "censor the Internet" and "undermine the existing laws that have enabled the Web to thrive, creating millions of U.S. jobs."

While Patch is not participating in the blackout, another site in our family, the Huffington Post, put a big black box on their page in protest. AOL, Patch's parent company, has also spoken out about the legislation.

"Patch.com and parent AOL is not participating in the blackout. "As written, we cannot support the bills. We believe an open Internet is critical for innovation, job creation, and the sustained growth of Internet businesses. We are in the process of working directly with lawmakers to improve the bills," said Tekedra N. Mawakana, AOL's senior vice president of Public Policy.