Thanks to our collective (and massive) hue-and-cry, the PR-sensitive politicians backtracked from those two legislations. (Here is our handy guide on SOPA & PIPA from a newbie’s perspective.)

However, as my colleague Stacey Higginbotham has been tirelessly reporting, the first battle might be over, but the war still rages on. SOPA, for instance was reborn as ACTA. Today, Google announced a new project – Take Action – that asks you to tell your story about the Internet and share it with the social web. Its whole motive: build grassroots momentum and keep the politicians on their proverbial back-foot.

Here is what Google says on the take action website:

What is the power of the Internet to you? This is just the first step in building a conversation around the future of the Internet. We hope you’ll join in by sharing your own story. Complete the sentence, “The Internet is the power to…” and share it using the tag #OurWeb.

While the push and pull of business and politics will continue, the lasting and most forceful power on the Internet is you. So stand up and be heard – start a conversation about how the web empowers you, makes you more productive, or just makes you laugh.

This tree reflects a small piece of the value of the web, and how together the Internet has grown into an incredibly powerful force for good in the world. To say that the web has created jobs is an understatement; it’s spurred the development of an entirely new sector and completely remade every industry that came before it.

Thanks to the Internet, we’ve changed the way the world communicates, how we work, and the way we share with one another. Take a look, appreciate what it means, and share your own story.