Iowa State students may have noticed that several popular websites have decided to black out their content Wednesday to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act and the PROTECT Intellectual Privacy Act.

Sites like Reddit, Wikipedia and Google have shown solidarity in opposing SOPA that, in effect, will allow the U.S. government to censor Internet content.

“The bills would shift the burden onto internet service providers to actively police their sites to make sure no one was infringing on someone else’s legally-protected, proprietary copyrighted material,” said Randall Wilson, legal director of the American Civil Liberties Union Iowa.

The ACLU is one of several online organizations opposing the bill that have chosen to speak out and the ACLU has battled the bill in Congress since its inception.

The SOPA bill essentially will give the government the ability to prevent access to websites that permit infringing or counterfeit goods. It is especially aimed at curtailing website traffic outside of the United States.

Also known by its even longer name, the Preventing Real Online Threats to Economic Creativity and Theft of the Intellectual Property Act of 2011, PIPA is aimed to curb piracy and illegal conent traffic.

Although there are a few potential benefits to the bill, Wikipedia continues to oppose it.

“We are concerned that SOPA and PIPA will severely inhibit people’s access to online information,” the website said. “This is not a problem that will solely affect people in the United States: It will affect everyone around the world.”

The strongest advocates for the bills are largely motion picture companies and music studios. The bill does, however, have online supporters like GoDaddy.com and the Wall Street Journal.

“I think the biggest thing I see is the supporters,” said Grant Awes, senior in advertising. “By them supporting the bill, they’re trying to make it hard  for small online businesses.”

Awes was also surprised that Google was involved and he says that will help contribute to raising awareness.

“Just imagine all the people it affected,” Awes said. “Think of how many people use Google.”

Jacob Mayer, freshman in industrial engineering and member of the Current Events Forum, is also opposed to the bills.

“Even the government shouldn’t be allowed to monitor what you post in the Internet,” Mayer said. 

He thinks that in order to have the bill passed, the government should split up the bill because it is too broad.

SOPA has currently been shelved and will not be discussed on the floor until February, but PIPA will be discussed in coming weeks.

Wikipedia stands by its decision.