Websites protest against intellectual properties bill

Several renowned websites are protesting today against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA), two bills in the United States Congress intended to stop online piracy.

Wikipedia has blocked access to all content on their website for 24 hours. According to The Economic Times, they have “blacked out” the website such that visitors are met with a political message.

“Experience the world without information,” reads the message on Wikipedia.

Google protested against the bill by hiding the Google logo on the US Google homepage.

The bills have nonetheless received the support of US Movie Industry organisations and business organisations. However, supporters of digital rights and freedom of speech have opposed the bills claiming that they will lead to the close down of several websites.

A letter publicised last month by Google, Twitter, Wikipedia and Yahoo said that the bills will facilitate censorship by the American government, similar to the situations in countries such as China and Iran.