Authored By James Harrison

While House and Senate members continue to consider measures aimed at stonewalling online piracy, major Internet players, such as Wikipedia, plan to blackout their websites on Wednesday to protest the bills.

The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its Senate counterpart, the Protect IP Act (PIPA), have become key points of controversy as lawmakers make their return to Washington this week. The bills, proposed last fall, have drawn ire from the online community for placing power in the hands of government officials to block websites deemed as infringing on copyrighted intellectual property.

Heading into an election year, the proposals have become a liability to legislators seeking to retain their seats. Sen. Bob Corker, a co-sponsor of PIPA, recently found himself the target of an online group aiming to “take down” politicians supporting the measure.

And though dozens of his fellow congressmen have signed on as co-sponsors of the bill, Rep. Chuck Fleischmann has shied away from declaring his position on it. In a recent interview with Nooga.com, Fleischmann said he was continuing to study “both sides” of the issue.

“I’ve met with our friends in the songwriting industry who are very, very concerned, and rightfully so, because their product is getting literally stolen,” Fleischmann said. “We are certainly looking at it, studying it, and we will ultimately be making a decision on it. But we’re listening to both sides, we’re listening to our constituents and we’re proceeding with caution.”

Fleischmann’s play for time could pay off, as recent reports have mentioned House Majority Leader Eric Cantor would not bring the bill up for vote unless formidable consensus could be generated around it. And over the weekend, a White House release said the Obama administration would not support any bill that would reduce freedom of expression, increase cybersecurity risks or undermine the innovation of the global Internet.

Regardless of the apparent slowdown, Wikipedia, along with popular websites such as Reddit, Boing Boing and Scribd, are signed on to blackout their websites in protest Wednesday. Others, including Twitter and Craigslist, have voiced opposition to the measure but will continue their services as usual.

In a news release explaining the reasoning behind the decision to block services of the online encyclopedia for 24 hours, Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales called the legislation “destructive.”

“This is an extraordinary action for our community to take,” Wales said. “And while we regret having to prevent the world from having access to Wikipedia for even a second, we simply cannot ignore the fact that SOPA and PIPA endanger free speech both in the United States and abroad and set a frightening precedent of Internet censorship for the world.”

Along with Corker, Sen. Lamar Alexander has signed on as a co-sponsor of PIPA. For the House version of the bill, Tennessee Reps. Marsha Blackburn and Jim Cooper are co-sponsors.