Scienceline has gone dark today to protest the U.S. Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT-IP Act (PIPA), two bills now under consideration by the House of Representatives and the Senate. As journalists it is rare that we publicly take sides on issues we may cover, but we are joining with other websites in this temporary shutdown because this legislation, if passed, will greatly impede our ability to gain access to, and report on, information that should be made available to the public. For more information, read about why the Online News Association -- a group of more than 1,900 online journalists -- opposes these bills.