16 January 2012 -- Two pieces of legislation currently making their way through the U.S. lawmaking process threaten to seriously damage the nature and functioning of the Internet as we know it. The Internet blacklist legislation - known as the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) currently before the U.S. Senate, and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) currently in the U.S. House of Representatives - harms the free and open Internet and creates new tools to censor international websites inside the United States.  It compromises Internet security, inhibits online expression and hampers online innovation. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has put together a very good list of reasons to oppose PIPA and SOPA.  

In an unprecedented move, on January 18, 2012, the Wikimedia Foundation, which operates the free online encyclopedia Wikipedia, will blackout the English version of Wikipedia for 24 hours in protest against the proposed legislation. You can read the statement from the Wikimedia Foundation here, and a personal message from the Executive Director of the Wikimedia Foundation, Sue Gardner, here.

You can take action here with the assistance of the Electronic Frontier Foundation and tell your Congressional representative that you oppose this destructive legislation.