I don’t have a strong opinion of SOPA one way or the other but the blackouts from Reddit and google are a very effective form of protest. I imagine a lot of people who haven’t been paying attention are now looking into the issue and forming an opinion. It’s simple, focused, principled and effective within a very short period of time and with minimal effort and expense. OWS, on the other hand spent a lot of time, money and effort to accomplish nothing aside from stricter regulations for camping in urban parks.