Some members of the Congress switched sides to oppose anti-piracy legislation as protests blanketed the Internet yesterday on major sites such as Wikipedia and Google.
Content providers who favour the anti-piracy measures, such as Hollywood and the music industry, were scrambling to win back public opinion and official support for the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA).
Wikipedia, the world's free online encyclopedia, shut down for a day. Google and others used the black censorship bars to draw attention to what had until recently been an obscure and technical legislative proposal to curb access to overseas websites that traffic in stolen content or counterfeit goods.
Many of the sites participating in the blackout urged their users to contact their legislators on the issue, a plea that brought quick results.
Several sponsors of the legislation, including Senators Roy Blunt, Chuck Grassley, Orrin Hatch and John Boozman and Marco Rubio, said they were withdrawing their support. Some blamed Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid for rushing the Senate version of the bill.
In switching their positions, Mr Blunt called the legislation "deeply flawed" while Mr Rubio and Mr Boozman cited "unintended consequences" that could stem from the proposed law. All said they still supported taking action against online piracy.
Other lawmakers, such as Senator Kristen Gillibrand, said they supported changes to the legislation.
The legislation, known as PIPA in the Senate and SOPA in the House of Representatives, has been a priority for entertainment companies, publishers, pharmaceutical companies and other industry groups who say it is critical to curbing online piracy, which they believe costs them billions of dollars a year.
But Internet players argue the bills would undermine innovation and free speech rights and would compromise the functioning of the Internet.
The legislation was seemingly on track for approval by Congress, but sentiment has shifted in recent weeks and an implicit veto threat from the White House over the weekend cast doubt on whether the legislation would pass.
The blackout affected thousands of sites and served as the culmination of several efforts online to fight the legislation. In recent days, for example, many Twitter users placed black "Stop SOPA" bands on the bottom of their profile pictures.
Even sites that didn't black out their sites, which would have cost them a day's worth of advertising revenue and angered some consumers, made their opposition to the bills plain.
"We can't let poorly thought out laws get in the way of the Internet's development," Facebook chief executive Mark Zuckerberg said in a statement.
Wikipedia mounted a 24-hour protest starting at midnight by converting their English page to a shadowy black background and warning readers that "the US Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet."
It included a link to help Internet users contact their representatives.
Craigslist, the free Internet classifieds site, also went black in protest, while Google's home search page included a black bar slapped over its logo and asked readers: "Tell Congress: Please don't censor the web!" Smaller sites, such as Reddit.com and BoingBoing.net, were also dark.
Reuters