If you spent time online Wednesday, you probably noticed some of your usual sites were blacked out. Many featured information about two bills, Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act, which would legalize Internet censorship under the guise of fighting online piracy.

We hope you found this to be more than a 24-hour inconvenience. We hope this proved just how much these bills could affect your daily life.

This blackout shows what the Internet could look like if these bills pass. Sites would be partially or completely blocked if one of their millions of users posts or links to infringing content.

Sites likes Wikipedia, Twitter and Facebook would find it nearly impossible to police every post. Under either of these bills, that inability would open them up to a host of lawsuits. Worse, offending pages — even whole sites — would be blocked from all American Internet users by their service providers.

We hope today’s protest has opened students’ eyes to the danger these bills represent. This fight isn’t over — the bills are still set to be discussed within the coming weeks — and it does affect you.

There is still a real possibility that these bills will find legislative support and eventually become law, unless each of you joins the fight and combines your voice with thousands of others demanding that their congressmen ignore Hollywood lobbyists and defend the Internet from censorship.

If you’re already involved in the fight against SOPA and PIPA, then keep up the good work. The protest can’t lose momentum, even as the bills lose support. If you’re just hearing about them, then it’s time to get involved. Educate yourself. Tell your friends. Then do what you can to help fight these dangerous bills.

A veto pledge from President Barack Obama would be a death knell for these bills. So far, Obama has expressed concern but not pledged a veto.

Demand that the president stand against censorship by signing the DemandProgress.org petition. You can find a link to the petition: here.

And don’t forget to take the fight to those directly involved. If you didn’t call or write to your congressmen Wednesday, do so today.