Why is this site, and many others, totally or partially blacked out today?

It's a solidarity move to stop SOPA [Stop Online Piracy Act.]

What is SOPA? From the point of view of many of us in the USA – it's a misguided attempt to stop the piracy of films and music. And guess what? the music and film industry stand solidly behind this bill – DUH!

Why is it misguided? Well it contains provisions that could shut down most of the Internet by a big player [ISP, etc.] saying "my content was stolen."

SHUT DOWN THAT SITE.

Or saying "that site linked to a site that had my stolen content." 

SHUT DOWN THAT SITE.

Goodbye Wikipedia, goodbye Google, goodbye YouTube, goodbye any site that they "say" they have an issue with.

It will stop creativity, stop inventions and stop the free exchange of ideas! It is censorship!

And if you are a small business who relies on a website and the Internet – it can hurt your business!!

For a more scholarly discussion see Wikipedia.

To take action: http://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/