Blackout By SOPA Tech Blackout to Protest SOPA  Internet strike  Stop sopa  Wikipedia blacks out And the world is suddenly black. What started out as an appeal from the entertainment industry executives to muzzle foreign websites dealing in pirated movies and music has turned into a war by the Silicon Valley. Hollywood started the campaign to control the numerous pirated websites causing them billions in damages. Looking for Congress support, the entertainment industry plans on introducing a bill to control internet piracy. The proposed legislation aims to decimate foreign websites that trade in pirated or counterfeit material by targeting their money supplies. This legislation aims to cut of the money from U.S credit card companies and money through ad networks. It further aims to remove these controversial sited from search engine results and is looking for ways to block access.
However Silicon Valley is striking back calling this bill a threat to freedom of speech. Tech giants such as Google, Amazon, Craigslist and Wikipedia have come out in protest and have chosen to go dark. This collective protest was on full display Tuesday night with many popular sites shutting down for a 12 to 24 hours strike citied as Internet’s first such stoppage. Following the tech leaders, as many as 10,000 more web sites are threatening to follow suit. According to Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, this strike was implemented to protest the impending legislation and its "frightening precedent of Internet censorship for the world.” Visitors to major websites such as Wikipedia were urged to contact their Congressmen and protest against the bill.
The organization of the tech giants has convinced the White House to look into removing the controversial provisions from the bill such as blockage of the websites using pirated material. Critics argue that such a procedure would backfire on legitimate websites too such as Craigslist and photo sharing Flickr. However Congress sponsors are expected to reach a compromise that focuses simply on cutting off money to these foreign piracy websites.
So far the push of the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) group has managed to slow the momentum of this fast moving bill. This bill has been labeled as a threat to internet freedom and the freedom of speech stifling the massive web economy. Supporters of the bill are calling this strike a “Gimmick” and “PR stunt”. According to House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith Wikipedia and other sites participating in the blackout were "promoting fear instead of facts." For now the debate lives on. 
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