To show support for the last bastion of freedom of expression, economic opportunity, and technological innovations that the Internet enables, ThaSauce will be blacking out this Wednesday, January 18th from 8 am-8 pm EST. No, we do not think that ThaSauce receives millions of views per day, but that does not stop us from trying to raise awareness around the possible debilitating implications of the Internet if the Senate’s Protect IP Act or the House’s Stop Online Piracy Act come to pass. Over fifty different websites that many of us utilize daily will also black out on January 18th, including such sites as Wikipedia and Reddit to date. Other projects that have joined in solidarity also include Mozilla, WordPress, and Minecraft. Our staff at ThaSauce cannot stress the importance of action: if we do nothing, the complete censorship of the Internet will be inevitable.

You can learn more about the Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act here and here. There is also an available list of companies and websites that have shown support against PIPA and SOPA. To keep informed, you can watch a live video stream of the House hearing where multiple people from the community will be testifying SOPA/PIPA on January 18th. Please help us raise awareness against this despicable attempt of Internet censorship and take action.