Before now, it was US DOJ that seized the websites due to different reasons…But now, the situation seems to have radically changed. As an expression of protest against Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA), the group of Anonymous hackers shut down the websites for the U.S. Department of Justice and Universal Music Group, including the record company’s Canadian home page, Thursday afternoon. Less than an hour later, the website of Recording Industry Association of America also went offline.

Several days before the incident, the file sharing site Megaupload was seized, followed by the apprehension of 4 people in New Zealand who were allegedly linked to the site and charged withthe conspiracy related to copyright infringement.

Anonymous hacktivist Barrett Brown commented about the closure of US DOJ and Universal Music websites, pointing out that it definitely was in relation with the Megaupload raid and aims to damage campaign raising abilities of remaining Democrats who support SOPA.

The recent shut down of the file sharing site Megaupload by U.S. federal agents suggests the anti-piracy legislation won’t be necessary for U.S. authorities to censor the Internet, as some members of U.S. Congress had already pulled their support for Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protest Intellectual Property Act (PIPA).