Which websites are participating in the blackout

The administration signalled it might use its veto power, if necessary. With public sentiment on the bill shifting in recent weeks and an implicit veto threat now emerging from the White House, Congressional staffers are resigning themselves to writing replacement language or possibly entirely new bills. Three key section of the existing legislation seem likely to remain. They comprise provisions aimed at getting search engines to disable links to foreign infringing sites; provisions that cut off advertising services to those sites; and provisions that cut off payment processing.

But critical provisions that would require Internet service providers such as Verizon Communications and Comcast Corp. Critics have said that such measures would only encourage people to navigate the web in riskier ways, with modified browsers or other tweaks that could lead to their Internet sessions getting hijacked by scammers. Lawmakers had already been coming around to the realisation they would have to hold back on the DNS-blocking provisions.

Supporters of the bills include movie and music companies such as Walt Disney, content providers such as the National Football League and News Corp. They argue the bills' sweeping provisions are necessary to shutter the burgeoning numbers of foreign-based cybercrime sites that sell counterfeit goods, pirated software or fake pharmaceuticals, or stream copyrighted content like music and movies. Other sites made their views clear without cutting off surfers. Wordpress, one of the world's most popular blogging platforms, also put its weight behind the protests by blacking out the homepage of Wordpress.

Thousands of Wordpress-powered blogs also joined in using one of the many SOPA Blackout plugins made available by developers. Introduced in the House of Representatives in late October, the bill aims to crack down on copyright infringement by restricting access to sites that fuel it. Its targets include "rogue" overseas sites like torrent hub The Pirate Bay, which essentially operates as a trading ground for illegal downloads of movies and other digital content.

The controversial legislation has turned into an all-out war between Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Media companies have united in favor of it, while tech's power players are throwing their might into opposing it. If SOPA passes, copyright holders would be able to complain to law enforcement officials and get websites shut down.

Search engines and other providers would have to block rogue sites when ordered to do so by a judge. Sites could be punished for hosting pirated content in the first place -- and Internet companies are worried that they could be held liable for users' actions.

As BoingBoing wrote : "Making one link would require checking millions even tens of millions of pages, just to be sure that we weren't in some way impinging on the ability of five Hollywood studios, four multinational record labels, and six global publishers to maximize their profits.

White House jumps in: The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform was supposed to hold a hearing with industry experts on Wednesday, which is why sites targeted that day for a blackout. But Rep. Cantor's comments sparked some news reports claiming that SOPA is dead, but an aide in Issa's office said "that's probably a little premature.

The White House released its first statement about the bill on Saturday. H M S In the news. Mary Hanbury. Brands and retailers across the world posted black squares on Instagram on Tuesday in support of the Blackout Tuesday protest.

The idea of Blackout Tuesday, which was conceived by executives in the music industry, is to pause business for the day to show solidarity with the Black Lives Matter protests. LA-based denim brand Lucky Brand also closed its stores and website on Tuesday and urged employees to use the day to demonstrate peacefully or work with their local community. Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories. Get a daily selection of our top stories based on your reading preferences.

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