WASHINGTON - November 16 - On Wednesday, Free Press, along with dozens of other groups, participated in American Censorship Day in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act (H.R. 3261), a bill that would let corporations rip apart the open structure of the Internet.

As part of the protest, groups are blocking their own websites with a pop-up page resembling the official government website seizure notices that will be implemented if SOPA is passed. Organizations are asking visitors to their websites to contact their members of Congress and urge them to vote against SOPA and its Senate companion, the PROTECT IP Act.

SOPA would give companies the power to blacklist thousands of websites if their users are accused of copyright infringement. This means that popular websites where people share videos, images and other data would be forced to censor user content or risk being blocked themselves.

Free Press Campaign Director Timothy Karr made the following statement:

“The Stop Online Piracy Act goes against the very fabric of the Internet. This dangerous legislation would pave the way for the kind of heavy-handed blocking you see in countries like China.

“We can’t allow any corporation to become the Internet’s judge, jury and executioner. Stopping SOPA and the PROTECT IP Act is essential to saving the open Internet for future generations.”