My journal over at Dreamwidth is now back to normal. I'm glad to be back. :)

So, did protesting against SOPA/PIPA in this way work? Well, I'm sure that me blacking out my journal probably had very little impact in the scheme of things; for the most part I'd be preaching to the choir. (In fact, the only real reason I did it was because I know that I've been popular recently because of my Greasemonkey script to add a Preview button to the new LiveJournal comment form. If it hadn't been for that, I probably wouldn't have done it.)

But it wasn't just me. Many other people and companies also protested against SOPA and PIPA by blacking out their websites. Of these, the site with the most influence was undoubtedly Wikipedia. While Google did put up information about the bills and encourage people to write, they didn't go black, nor should they have done. Wikipedia did go black (although there were deliberate workarounds for emergency access), and reading Twitter it was very easy to see just how much influence Wikipedia had on the day's events (though I disagree that it was 'hilarious' to see the reactions).

But did all the blacking out achieve anything? Yes, it did - very much so, in fact. Several sponsors of the bills dropped their support, and as of right now the support and oppose figures stand at 67 and 71 respectively, which is a vast improvement over the earlier figures of 80 and 31 (according to a comment on Reddit).

For those who can view videos, I also found this interview with Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian to be good viewing.

The fight isn't quite over yet, because much of the opposition is in regard to SOPA (the House bill) rather than PIPA (the Senate bill). PIPA is almost as dangerous as SOPA, with little difference in regard to how it works, as I understand it. That said, the awareness built up from this massive campaign has done a *lot* for us, and it will probably make things easier.

I'm glad I was able to play a part in that, even if my own individual contribution was only a drop in the ocean.