If you were online yesterday, you probably noticed that many sites were blacked out in protest of SOPA, and lesser known, PIPA. Many bloggers joined the protest.

Google ran a black box over its logo. Wikipedia blacked out for 24 hours and urged users to contact their representatives. WordPress and Reddit ran a protest pages on their homepage followed by a call to action for people to email Congress in protest of SOPA. Twitter and Facebook ran as usual. No large, black protest pages on these sites. In addition, many bloggers ran “Stop SOPA & PIPA” banners on their avatars. Some bloggers “blacked out” their blogs for the day in solidarity.

What Will SOPA Mean for Bloggers?

If you are a blogger you’ll want to learn more about SOPA. Your online life could depend on it.

SOPA is the Stop Online Piracy Act or H.R. 3261, introduced in the House of Representatives. The bill was introduced by the House Judiciary Committee Chairman Representative Lamar S. Smith (R-TX) and a bypartisan group of 12 sponsors of the bill. SOPA is a sister law to PIPA, the Protect IP Act, introduced in 2008.

If passed, SOPA will allow U.S law enforcement agencies to shut down sites that infringe on copyrights. But what does that mean? And how will SOPA affect you as a blogger?

As bloggers, you write about what pleases you, what irks you, what you love, what you hate. Your posts can be heartfelt and original. Bloggers are content creators, primarily. But, bloggers also post content from other sources. Bloggers post funny tweets from celebrities. YouTube videos. Excerpts from newspapers. In short, while bloggers are content creators, they are also content borrowers who give credit where credit is due. SOPA would mean that if you post copyrighted material your site could be shut down for copyright infringement.

Bloggers, along with millions of Americans, oppose the restrictive parameters of SOPA. So who is opposed to SOPA? This video featuring a number of well-known bloggers including @theBloggess, @JessicaGottlieb, and more, explains SOPA and how it will affect bloggers, writers, and content creators.

America is hot bed of creativity. From a college guy creating Facebook to the creation of other sites, America is at the forefront of content creation. So who is in favor of SOPA?

Piracy and copyright infringement cost businesses about $775 billion annually, per the Copyright Alliance. According to CNET, Hollywood is very firmly behind SOPA. The film and TV industry wants to protect its copyright on media it releases. So-called “rogue” sites in foreign countries steal copyrighted content, like film, TV shows, and music. It is very hard to prosecute those outside the United States.

There is no denying that SOPA will mean that if a blogger posts copyrighted content on her blog, the blogger could have her blog “shut down” by U.S. law enforcement agencies. Facebook posts, newspaper excerpts, photographs, song lyrics, and even YouTube videos posted on blogs would be against the Stop Online Piracy Act.

Companies against SOPA

The list of companies against SOPA and PIPA continues to grow, but includes:

Online Services and Websites

• AOL
• ebay
• etsy
• Facebook
• craigslist
• Reddit
• Tumblr
• Twitter
• FourSquare
• Google
• Linkedin
• Mozilla
• PayPal
• Wikipedia
• Major League Gaming
• BuzzFeed
• Creative Commons
• DreamHost
• Hostgator
• OpenDNS
• Yahoo
• Scribd
• Vimeo

Advocacy Groups

• ACLU
• American Center for Law and Justice
• American Library Association
• Brookings Institute
• Consumers Union
• Heritage Foundation
• MoveOn.org
• National Association of the Deaf

For a complete list of organizations, groups, and individuals opposed to the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act, go here.

So Who Is for SOPA?

Who supports the Stop Online Piracy Act?

• Disney
• Marvel
• CBS
• ESPN
• Viacom
• VISA
• ABC
• Capitol Records
• Church Music Publishers’ Association
• Estee Lauder Companies
• Go Daddy
• Fraternal Order of Police
• Motion Picture Association of America
• NFL
• Pfizer
• Random House
• Time Warner

Be Heard

Want to lend your voice? Sign the Google “End Piracy, Not Liberty” online petition urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA. Sign the petition to let your voice be heard.

Update: According to the Los Angeles Times, three of the co-sponsors of SOPA and PIPA have dropped out as thousands of websites and blogs went dark in protest. Senator Marco Rubio (R-FL) withdrew his support of Protect IP Act in the Senate, while representatives Lee Terry (R-NE) and Ben Quayle (R-AZ) pulled out of the House bill, SOPA.