LEAD: Google and Wikipedia blackouts cut support for US piracy bill

By Andy Goldberg Jan 18, 2012, 18:03 GMT

San Francisco - Online encyclopedia Wikipedia shut down its English-language site on Wednesday and Google blacked out its famous logo in a 24-hour protest at proposed anti-piracy legislation in the United States.

'Imagine a world without free knowledge,' Wikipedia said on its blacked-out homepage. 'For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the US Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia.'

The unprecedented action had a dramatic impact on legislative support for the two bills - the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA).

Key Republican figures backed away from the proposals, which opponents charged would limit free speech and give content owners draconian powers to shut down websites implicated in piracy, even if they merely provide links to copyrighted content.

The Washington Post reported that six top senators had asked Majority Leader Harry Reid to slow down passage of the legislation so that it could be modified.

'We have increasingly heard from a large number of constituents and stakeholders with vocal concerns about possible unintended consequences of the proposed legislation,' wrote the Republican senators, including Charles E. Grassley, the ranking Republican on the Senate Judiciary Committee.

Senator John Cornyn, another leading Republican also changed tack, saying that 'concerns about unintended damage to the internet and innovation in the tech sector require a more thoughtful balance, which will take more time.'

Another turncoat was Senator Mark Rubio from Florida, who said that anti-piracy legislation must also promote 'an open, dynamic internet environment that is ripe for innovation and promotes new technologies.'

In addition to the Wikipedia blackout, Google slapped a black banner across its logo and tried to alert users to the alleged dangers of the bills. 'Tell Congress,' said a message on the website. 'Don't censor the web!'

With over 2.7 billion visits per month, Wikipedia's US site was the largest web property to block access in protest at the proposal. Other websites taking similar action include news site Reddit, the leftwing advocacy group MoveOn, Mozilla, the maker of the Firefox browser, and the popular blog Boing Boing. Greenpeace, Mashable, Wordpress and Wired also joined the protest.

The proposed legislation is strongly supported by US movie and music industries, who say web sites should do more to curb the distribution of pirated material.

Those opposing the proposed legislation include Google and Twitter, though both declined to join the overall blackout. 'Closing a global business in reaction to single-issue national politics is foolish,' Twitter chief executive Dick Costolo said.

The White House had indicated earlier that it opposes the legislation. 'While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global internet,' it said in a blog posting last week.