The founders of Google Inc. (GOOG) and EBay Inc. (EBAY) attacked Hollywood-backed anti-piracy legislation in the U.S. House and Senate that they said would threaten the technology industry and lead to Web censorship.

The Internet executives said the bills would have a “chilling effect on innovation” and give the U.S. government the “power to censor the Web using techniques similar to those used by China, Malaysia and Iran,” according to a letter sent to U.S. lawmakers and published today in newspapers including the New York Times, Wall Street Journal and Washington Post.

Lobbying in Washington by Internet companies and motion- picture studios has intensified as a House committee prepares to vote tomorrow on the Hollywood-supported bill, which has become a flash point in the debate over how to curb online trafficking of illegally copied movies, television shows and music.

The controversy has drawn in Google co-founder Sergey Brin, PayPal Inc. co-founder Elon Musk, EBay founder Pierre Omidyar, and Yahoo! Inc. (YHOO) co-founder Jerry Yang, who were among 16 Internet executives signing today’s letter.

The House bill, and similar legislation in the Senate, would let the Justice Department seek court orders requiring U.S. Internet-service providers, search engines, payment processors and ad networks to block or cease business with non- U.S. websites linked to online piracy.

Read the full news at Bloomberg.com

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