I could care less about facebook, twitter or any other social site being blacked out but shutting down google and yahoo where many of us have mail accounts is something to see.I guess we can say we live in the socialist republic of America, where a minor group of insignificant actors and who knows what decide to shut down the internet why don't they shut down TV stations na that would hurt their exposition and want to be seen and heard.As pay back I would suggest boycot theaters across america and give them a taste of their own medicine.

Or google could just blackout for a few hours and give a damn good chance at stopping sopa.

SOPA is due to pressure from the entertainment industry, not the US administration, but it fits perfectly with what the US government want to be able to achieve - namely to be able shut down unfavourable sites on a technicality.

The entertainment industry, especially the music industry, have been aggressively lobbying for this for the last decade or more. There is big money at stake here, some big players are involved and it's all about them and their profits, not the average person.

Anyone that supports this and hasn't a vested interest is simply a mug. This is the kind of litigation that doesn't stop. In a few years there will be another similar act, imposing stricter controls. The end result will be the end of a free internet and the beginning of an internet entirely controlled by governments and corporations (like everything else).

Ok ppl a little perspective may be in order. The root of SOPA is to stop other countries from profiting from American movies ect. That I am all for. But I dont see this bill going through. There are way too many ppl paranoid. Yes SOPA has the potential to cause censorship on the web, but no one else has any better ideas on how to stop the pirates. Maybe our energy would be better spent comming up with a BETTER idea about how to handle online piracy. Hey I know lets sic ANON on them!!!!

most of the sites that plan to do the black out, look like they are just going to lose business, which won't affect too many people. Not a good move to protest SOPA.

a better incentive I think would be to offer there users a limited discount for there business if the user took the time to write an opposition letter to there congress person.

There's a countdown to the Blackout here. http://vrsry.com/sopa Thought ya'll'd like it.

TechSpot, this is your cue to be party of the blackout as well. We need websites like you to be a good opposition as well.

Hopefully this wakes up the masses to SOPA and gets them to contact their representatives to see where they stand.

I am disgusted that legislation like this could even be concieved by the human brain.
It is an ABOMINATION of legislation, and therefore must be destroyed. I encourage all American Citizens, Black, White, Hispanic, Asian, Middle-eastern, whatever to oppose this... Sh!t. This garbage cannot roll out of the doors of any senate hearing. Congress + Constitution= TL;DR.

I'm hoping Google will join.
Imagine what effect that would have ..
no Gmail, no Google search, no Google translate, no Google maps, no GTalk, Internet would grind to a halt.

If Twitter goes down, how will I tweet about the blackout?

You are Wrong SOPA is nothing but a power grab by big content they will use this to shut down Indi music and movie sites ,they want control of what and how you watch and listen they are so use to being able to buy control from your government that they can not get it through their heads that we the People can fight back for what we believe and we believe in the free flow of information and ideas no matter how much business and government fear them.

More laws will solve everything

It doesn't matter whether it ia SOPA or any other, it's a form of policing the Net...noticed most of the antipiracy stuff on the net is only from USA, with big corporations behind it trying to take control, it's all about control, ok theres profit involved but thats not the issue it's power, damn USA think they can dictate (HITLER comes to mind) to the world, as if they own it, sorry but rest of the world has there own laws and most govenments will tell Sopa where to stick it !.....the net is mostly free and i'd like to keep it that way.....regarding lost profits....make your sofware etc cheaper and more avilable and piracy will go down, stands to reason that cheaper it is more you sell = more profit in long term, as piracy goes it will never be stamped out, some do it for fun and because they can, to some they get a buz, like hackers

I think that if we were to boycott the special interests (itunes), they would get a rid of the bill. also, if anybody wants to try actually DOING something instead of just whining, please help me googlebomb the phrase Please don't take our freedom to the url www.stopthewall.us . By creating a google-bomb and telling people about it, you can generate publicity. Trust me, if you dont know how to googlebomb, just look it up, its fairly simple, quite easy, and capable of making a difference if enough people spread the word once its up.