George,

For the day today (Wednesday, January 18), some 7,000 websites have joined a protest to publicize the belief that provisions in two Congressional bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act, referred to as SOPA, as well as the Protect IP Act, or PIPA - which may require search engines to block access to sites that employ copyrighted material via links or hosting - is tantamount to censorship and if implemented might cause huge logistical problems as well. Wikipedia is probably the largest and most-visited of the blacked-out sites (although their SOPA article is accessible), and Reddit has joined in. Google has a black bar across its logo, but is still accessible for normal searching. Google has said that the loss of a day's revenue combined with the great inconvenience to society outweigh the merits of taking the site down.

Wikipedia's English language site shows a gloomy black screen with the stark words "Imagine a world without free knowledge," but you may still access the site, by hitting the "escape" key just after you opt for the English-language home page. It has to be timed carefully, and may take several tries. Wikipedia in other languages appears to not be affected.

Most of the blackouts will extend, we are told, to midnight Eastern time. I use these sites constantly, for reference and information, and will be greatly inconvenienced for a day.

But there are remedies for people making money off your stuff, case by case and after the fact (and if it is worth pursuing). I think that the benefits of very open posting and access vastly outweigh potential monetary losses. And the notion of imposing what would be vague and cumbersome self-censorship is chilling.

(Dave Sagarin, electronic mail, January 18, 2012)