The latest party to publicly show their discontent with the Stop Online Piracy Act is the hacker group Anonymous. Late Wednesday night the hacker group announced they would go silent on January 18th as a sign of solidarity with those groups already protesting against SOPA and Protect IP Act. Anonymous joins Reddit and possibly Wikipedia on the list of online entities that are going quiet on January 18th to protest against SOPA - Google and Facebook have been rumored to join as well.
It is not the first time Anonymous intervenes in SOPA business. There have been reports of Anonymous threatening both Nintendo and Sony after they decided to support SOPA. The hacker group posted messages indicating that alliance to SOPA was a death warrant to SONY; "therefore, yet again, we have decided to destroy your network. We will dismantle your phantom from the Internet. Prepare to be extinguished. Justice will be swift, and it will be for the people, whether some like it or not. Sony, you have been warned" they said. Both Sony and Nintendo quietly withdrew their support; however, it is unclear if they decisions where solely influenced by Anonymous.
Why January 18th?
The House Oversight Committee will hold a hearing to consider SOPA's impact on the web on that same day. Rep. Darrell Issa, Chairman of the House Committee on Oversight and Government reform said that this meeting will "examine the potential impact of Domain Name Service (DNS) and search engine blocking on American cyber-security, jobs and the Internet community. In light of policy proposals affecting the way taxpayers access the Internet, the hearing will also explore federal government strategies to protect American intellectual property without adversely affecting economic growth. The Committee will hear testimony from top cyber-security experts and technology job creators."
If passed, the Stop Online Piracty Act and the Protect IP Act will shake the internet at its core, forcing companies and users alike to monitor the information being shared and if either is found guilty of disseminating copyrighted material there will be severe penalties which include hefty fines and even jail time.
You can monitor the social media reaction to Anonymous's blackout by following the hashtag #SOPAblackout and #J18.