This morning, millions of people awoke to discover that many of the websites they rely on every day-- including Google, Wikipedia, and Craigslist-- had entered a web-wide protest against two bills that have been proposed in Congress: the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate. As previously reported, these bills attempt to curtail piracy of intellectual property on the internet, but many, including us at Pitchfork, argue that they go too far. The bills are backed by the Recording Industry Association of America, the Motion Picture Association of America, and News Corporation, among others. Many see SOPA and PIPA as a dangerous threat. Google writes that the bills "would censor the Web and impose harmful regulations on American business." Wikipedia writes, "these bills are efforts to stop copyright infringement committed by foreign web sites, but, in our opinion, they do so in a way that actually infringes free expression while harming the Internet." The outcry against the legislation over the past few months has resulted in some progress: as The New York Times reports, "Legislators have already agreed to delay or drop one ire-inducing component of the bills, Domain Name System blocking, which would prevent access to sites that were found to have illegal content." The Times also points out that members of the Obama administration have responded to petitions against the bills, writing, "While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet," and, "Any effort to combat online piracy must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity and must not inhibit innovation by our dynamic businesses large and small." But this doesn't mean that either bill is dead. On January 24, the Senate will vote on PIPA, according to Google. According to Politico, SOPA will be debated in the House in February. Wikipedia writes, "SOPA and PIPA are just indicators of a much broader problem. In many jurisdictions around the world, we're seeing the development of legislation that prioritizes overly-broad copyright enforcement laws, laws promoted by power players, over the preservation of individual civil liberties." The Times writes that the tech world's "main concern is that the tech industry had little influence on the language of the legislation, which is still in flux and so broadly worded that it is not entirely clear how internet businesses will be affected. Big internet companies say the bills could prevent entire Web sites from appearing in search results-- even if the sites operate legally and most content creators want their videos or music to appear there." Google suggests Congress investigate the OPEN Act as an alternative to SOPA and PIPA. According to Google, it "takes targeted and focused steps to cut off the money supply from foreign pirate sites without making U.S. companies censor the Web." To join the fight against SOPA and PIPA, sign Google's petition "Tell Congress: Don't Censor the Web", or use Wikipedia to contact your representative.