If you're like most Mashable readers, you know plenty about the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and its sister bill in the Senate, the Protect IP Act (PIPA). And you're probably plenty outraged about it, too. And rightfully so.

If enacted, SOPA/PIPA could have disastrous consequences for the basic infrastructure of the Internet. It would afford the Federal government and copyright holders excessive and far-reaching powers to take down sites they deem to be hosting protected content with little regard for the definition of "hosting."

If a user of a news site leaves a comment with offending material, that could be grounds for a takedown. And YouTube could be in hot water should it fail to promptly detect a user who uploads copyrighted material. The same problem exists for all community-based websites, which, let's face it, are the vast majority of our favorite sites.

It's the punitive actions which SOPA/PIPA call for that are the most troubling aspect of the bills. They take an offending website off the Domain Name System (DNS), a sort of phone book for the Internet. For more on DNS, watch this excellent explainer video posted on The Guardian. By interfering with DNS, the bill could destabilize the foundation of the Internet. And dedicated pirates would find work-arounds.







Two Different Media Conversations

If you agree with my anti-SOPA stance, then let me assure you, we are in good company. We stand alongside the likes of Google, Facebook, AOL, Wikipedia, Reddit, Mozilla and a host of other giants in the tech industry.

But there's work to be done. We know plenty about SOPA/PIPA because we're so active on websites and online communities that are paying attention to the issue.

But what about the rest of America? What about your parents, your mailman and your co-workers? They may use the Internet as much as we do, but in very different capacities.

We sometimes think SOPA/PIPA has been part of the national dialogue for months, but it hasn't. It's only been a part of the dialogue in niche networks, communities and media sites.

Simply put, it's not a mainstream issue yet. But it deserves to be.

If SOPA/PIPA are passed, it wouldn't just mean disaster for us. It could severely disrupt the services that casual Internet users enjoy as well. And they represent a much larger swath of America. If we want to fight SOPA/PIPA, we need to educate and inform those casual users as best we can.

So far, mainstream media have been largely silent on the twin Internet killers.

And our elected officials in Congress? Most don't understand the complexity of the Internet. Rep. Mel Watts (D-NC) said during a markup session that he “didn’t understand a lot of the technological stuff," and that he's "not the person to argue about the technology part of this.” Rep. Jason Chaffetz (R-UT) said that it's time to "bring in the nerds" - which Congress is thankfully doing.

It all echoes the late Alaska Sen. Ted Stevens' remark that the Internet is a "series of tubes."

Suggestions and amendments proposed by the seemingly few Congressman who do understand the Internet, like Colorado Rep. Jared Polis (an Internet entrepreneur), have sadly been getting shot down by their less-knowledgeable peers.

The Power of the Big Three

So how can the issues surrounding SOPA and PIPA reach the national discourse?

Some sites, including Reddit, Tumblr, Mozilla and others, have already censored parts of their websites in protest of the bills. Reddit is going a step further and replacing their normal website with an anti-SOPA message for a full 12 hours in late January.

That's a good start, but there's a problem with that approach. Those sites are most often visited by people like you and me, who are already in the know about SOPA/PIPA. We need massive, coordinated action on sites that casual Internet users visit.

Facebook, Google and Wikipedia. You're the Big Three in this fight. You've already publicly affirmed your opposition to SOPA. Now it's time to really be a part of the fight.

If you go dark for even a few hours, everyone will take notice — Internet aficionados and casual users alike. The effect would be increased exponentially if you coordinated the effort. And what's there to lose? Some ad revenue? If you really believe what you've written about SOPA, that's nothing compared to the consequences the bill could have. Consider any lost revenue your charitable donation to the cause, because the other side has some seriously big money behind it. You're the dominant players in your field, and you won't lose users over such a campaign.

Go dark. Shut down your sites. Leave a message about SOPA/PIPA, link out to more information and let people know what they can do to fight the bills.

Imagine a casual Internet user who hops on Facebook in the morning to browse his News Feed. On blackout day, he'll see something radically different. And he'll instantly take notice. He'll start talking to friends, family and co-workers.

"Did you see what Google did?" asks one to another. "Yeah, Facebook too. It was about some bill in Congress," responds the other. And the conversation begins.

Once public interest starts to mount, understanding will follow. The outrage that feels commonplace amongst Internet natives will spread to casual users and public pressure will build, forcing Congress to take a second, much deeper, look at SOPA/PIPA.

Should these companies be unable to stomach even a short outage, a prominent banner at the top of each website would probably suffice. But that wouldn't nearly have the same impact.

You need to pull out the big guns in this fight. The Internet is an incredible thing and the online community powerful when it unites around an issue. But this issue needs to enter the mainstream. And blacking out the Big Three are the way to do just that.