**Correction appended**
Amanda Macias was one of several MU students who learned the hard way Wednesday that Wikipedia, Craigslist and thousands of other websites had gone dark for the day to protest federal anti-piracy legislation.
When MU School of Journalism associate professor Sandy Davidson asked her communications law class to search for the breed of her new dog on Wikipedia, Macias and her classmates ran into a black curtain.
The entry on her computer screen was blocked.
Macias was one of millions of web surfers whose browsing was temporarily stymied by the encyclopedia’s 24-hour show of solidarity against the Stop Online Piracy Act. Internet giants Wikipedia, Google, Reddit, Twitter and Facebook have all allied against SOPA, which is currently pending in the United States House of Representatives, warning it could lead to online censorship. They are also protesting the Protect Intellectual Property Act, a similar bill in the Senate.
SOPA would grant the attorney general power to issue court orders mandating Internet providers to block foreign websites selling pirated goods or services. The attorney general would be able to order search engines, advertisers and payment processors to cut all ties with offending sites.
According to [CNN Money](http://money.cnn.com/2012/01/17/technology/sopa_explained/index.htm), SOPA targets foreign websites that dodge current copyright laws established in the 1998 Digital Millennium Copyright Act. Under this, content creators can submit “takedown notices” to websites, then forward them to users who posted the infringing content.
“That user has the right to file a counter-motion demonstrating that the content doesn’t infringe on any copyrights,” CNN Money writer Julianne Pepitone said in the article.
“SOPA tackles that by moving up the chain,” Pepitone said. “If you can’t force overseas sites to take down copyrighted work, you can at least stop U.S. companies from providing their services to those sites. You can also make it harder for U.S. Internet users to find and access the sites.”
Going one step further, SOPA would put the legal power of the website into the hands of the government. With SOPA, the government would be able to issue a court order to remove copyrighted material.
Supporters of the bill, including Comcast and the Motion Picture Association of America, say foreigners profiting from copyright-infringing goods are stealing jobs from Americans.
But opponents worry websites that allow user-created content could face shutdowns if users link to pirated products. This could have a chilling effect if websites are required to scrutinize what people post, opponents said.
Many of the websites, including Wikipedia, announced in advance they were pulling the plug. But the move still reverberated across the digital sphere.
“It really hasn’t gotten much attention until the websites started getting politically active,” sophomore Evan Schroeder said.
David Cawthon, a second-year journalism graduate student, said he added his name to an [anti-SOPA petition](https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/) that several of his friends shared on Facebook.
“Passing these laws would definitely be a detriment to online freedom of expression,” Cawthon said.
The blackout seemed to have had an effect on lawmakers. The Wikimedia Foundation reported more than 8 million Americans found their Congressional representatives through Wikipedia during its blackout.
According to ProPublica, at least six co-sponsors renounced their support Wednesday for either SOPA or PIPA, including Sen. Roy Blunt, R-Mo., who removed his name as a PIPA co-sponsor.
Davidson, also an adjunct associate professor in the School of Law, said it’s difficult to predict how the attorney general might interpret the bills if they pass. But the government does need to address copyright infringement, she said.
“It’s somehow coming up with a solution that will leave, you know, the lines of communication free that won’t be too onerous on online service providers,” she said. “Yet, it needs to protect the valid copyright rights that, right now, clearly are being ignored.”
**Correction appended:** This article originally wrongly implied that if the Stop Online Piracy Act was passed, the government would give websites the opportunity to remove copyrighted materials before blocking the site. We also stated Internet providers would have to block websites participating in piracy, however Rep. Lamar Smith, R-Texas, said he would remove that portion of the bill if it had reached the floor, according to wired.com. The Maneater regrets these errors.
