Many of our favorite websites wore black today, as a strike against the Internet Blacklist bills. The tone was solemn and dramatic, enlisting users to click here and here and here to defend the Internet as we know it. It was striking how similar the sites appeared. Black. White. Capital letters. Big brother-type proclamations. Many websites actually performed a self-imposed censoring of their material, to show users how it would be if the anti-piracy laws were to come to pass.

Aesthetically, I was interested in the sites that literally enacted censorship like Google and Wordress and Wired in both form and content. There is something so innately human about wanting desperately to see underneath the thick black bar. It’s a compelling visual statement. Not to mention a cultural one –  loaded with scary, dark, freedom-infringing vibes. Of course, I would be remiss not to mention The Oatmeal, which marked the day with humor.  (see below).