The current black out of a number of web sites today to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) has now crossed over into the real world. News.com reports that as many as 2,000 people gathered today in midtown Manhattan in New York City. Some of the people in the crowd held up signs, one of which said, "Imagine a world without knowledge."
Some of the protesters went to gather in front of the New York City offices of New York-based US Senator Charles Schumer, one of the co-sponsors of the PIPA bill. That legislation is currently scheduled to be voted on by the Senate on January 24. As we reported earlier, another co-sponsor of the PIPA bill, Senator Marco Rubio, has announced that he is withdrawing his support of PIPA and asking that the vote on PIPA be delayed.
News.com also reports that a number of other Senators and members of the House of Representatives are now withdrawing their own support of SOPA and PIPA or at least saying that the bills should be rewritten. For example, Senator Roy Blunt of Montana has announced, "I"m withdrawing my co-sponsorship for the Protect IP Act."