Top web firms set to impose a blackout in protest against 'Big Brother' online piracy bill

Popular websites to ask users to oppose the Stop Internet Piracy Act

Domain name company GoDaddy reverses its support for SOPA after mass boycott



The world's most popular websites could impose an 'internet blackout' in protest at a proposed law which would extend government censorship in an effort to tackle online piracy.



The battle over the SOPA bill has seen leading web firms square off against Hollywood media companies in a trade-off between internet freedom and intellectual property rights.



Now it could burst into the open as technology giants are planning to 'censoring' their own homepages, according to a leading internet lobby group.



Blackout? Sites including Google are planning drastic action to protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act

Sites such as Google, Amazon and Facebook could temporarily replace their usual homepage with a black screen and a message asking users to contact politicians and urge them to oppose the Stop Online Piracy Act.



The move could come as early as January 24, when the bill is due to be debated in the House of Representatives.

Marham Erickson, head of NetCoalition, a body representing many of the world's biggest websites, said that the drastic action of a blackout was being contemplated.



'There have been some serious discussions about that,' he said, while pointing out that 'it has never happened before'.



Opposition: Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, is one of many tech pioneers hoping to defeat SOPA

GoDaddy, the world's largest domain registration company, had been a rare example of a web firm which supported SOPA, but was today forced to reverse its position after thousands of users deserted it over its political stance.



A boycott campaign which involved giants such as Wikipedia as well as a network of individual users and small companies led to GoDaddy announcing today that was no longer in favour of the bill.



The firm's chief executive Warren Adelman said in a statement: 'GoDaddy opposes SOPA because the legislation has not fulfilled its basic requirement to build a consensus among stake-holders in the technology and Internet communities.'



The unorthodox campaigning methods used by opponents of SOPA are a response to their being heavily outspent by Hollywood firms.



Author: Representative Lamar Smith (R-Texas), sponsor of the bill

Media companies are spending ten times as much as technology firms on lobbying in relation to SOPA, which they hope will crack down on copyright theft around the world by allowing the government to remove links to piracy websites from search engines and social networks.



And Hollywood, traditionally a Democratic stronghold, has teamed up with the Republican-supporting Chamber of Commerce in its efforts to push the bill - sponsored by Texas Representative Lamar Smith - through Congress.



Ranged against them are many of the tech world's most iconic figures, including Google's Sergey Brin and Eric Schmidt, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales, and 'father of the internet' Vint Cerf.



SOPA's opponents fear that the bill will allow the government and corporations to pursue alleged offenders without having to establish proof that they are breaking the law.