If you’ve attempted to use the popular website Wikipedia today, you know it’s in the dark.
A local tech company is also in a “blackout” in protest to proposed government antipiracy legislation.
“We wanted to say something about how wrong it is and its definite censorship,” said Ginny Stein, co-owner of The Computer Tamers, a Willimantic-based computer repair and sales company.
The Computer Tamers' site will be offline for 24 hours.
It just says: “Save the Internet, This site has been taken down in protest of bills currently being considered in the US House and Senate. Called SOPA and PIPA, these bills threaten to destroy the internet as we know it. If either one passes, your favorite sites could disappear forever. Act Now. Call your senator and ask them to vote “No” for PIPA.
The "Stop Online Piracy Act" or SOPA, in the House would, allow the government to shutdown websites alleged to distribute pirated content and the U.S, Senate is taking up PIPA -- the "protect intellectual property act."
“Our position is, we don't want the government to have such control over us and what we do especially something like the internet,” Stein said.
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Stein said the bills under consideration by Congress are less about piracy and more about restricting free speech on the Internet.
The film and music industries support the legislation, seeking to protect their intellectual property and revenue, but tech companies, including Google and Facebook, think it threatens their industry.
“They're using the copyright issue that the government would be able to pull down a site anytime they think there's any kind of infringement,” Stein said.
