All over the country, people started joining together to participate in Black March in protest of Protect IP Act (PIPA) on Thursday, March 1, through Saturday, March 31.

   Protests started when legislators proposed PIPA, which allowed them to shut down any website that allowed file-sharing without trial due to copyright infringement or theft of intellectual property. While such legislation aimed at trying to shut down online piracy, sites such as Facebook and Google fall into the copyright infringement section.

      "Well I guess what the web site contains is a big part, like pirated material then that would be understandable.” said Wyatt Allen, senior, “What if they took down Youtube? I think there needs to be some restrictions.”

   Due to repeated legislation to censor the internet, a movement of pro-Free Speech Americans created to boycott the companies that supported this act, such as Sony Electronics Inc.

   Sony Electronics Inc., The Walt Disney Company and Wal-Mart saw a drop from 0.01% to 0.03% in stocks for the first week of March, which continued to drop thereafter. People from all around the country pledged to participate in Black March. The Black March creators brought forth a plan to stop the purchase of books, video games, magazines and movies for the entire month of March.

   While the idea and situation for Black March stood widely supported, most people found a conflict with its restrictions. "I really enjoy buying games and seeing movies,” said Zach Murphree, senior.

   Gamers such as Andrew Acuff, junior, found themselves conflicted over the time period they picked for the boycott. “I think [Black March] is kind of stupid because March is the most popular month for video games and movies this year," Acuff said.