Logo

Internet Blackout Produces Staggering Numbers, as 4.5 Million People Sign Petition

Jan 19, 2012  •  Post A Comment

Wednesday’s blackout of some Internet sites, led by Wikipedia, produced impressive results, CBS News reports.

The protest of two pending anti-piracy measures, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA), “sent a loud message to Congress,” the story says.

Here are some of the numbers, according to media reports:

4.5 million people signed a Google petition to protest SOPA and PIPA, while 350,000 emails were sent to representatives via SopaStrike.com and AmericanCensorship.org.

About 75,000 websites took part in the protest, according to Fight for the Future.

Wikipedia reported that 162 million people viewed its blackout landing page, 8 million U.S. visitors looked up congressional representatives and 12,000 users posted comments on the Wikimedia Foundation blog announcing the blackout.

Twitter reported more than 2.4 million SOPA-related tweets between midnight and 4 p.m. ET Wednesday; the top five terms were SOPA, Stop SOPA, PIPA, Tell Congress and #factswithoutwikipedia.

The story reports: “According to the White House, a combined 103,785 signed a petition to kill the bill. About 24 U.S. senators have now come out against the bills, including former co-sponsors Ben Cardin, Marco Rubio and Roy Blunt.”

One Comment

  1. I’m glad to hear so many signed against this ridiculous idea. Hopefully it puts it to rest and we don’t have to hear about it ever again!

Leave a Reply to Alison Cancel Reply

Email (will not be published)