The European Union's Internet czar on Friday, January 20 added her voice to resistance to the Stop Online Piracy Act, in an unusually open comment on pending U.S. legislation.

"Glad tide is turning on SOPA: don't need bad legislation when should be safeguarding benefits of open net," Neelie Kroes, the EU's Commissioner for the Digital Agenda, said in a Twitter message.

The piece of legislation, currently in the House of Representatives, would allow the U.S. Justice Department to target legitimate sites where users share pirated content.

Outrage over SOPA earlier this week triggered a one-day blackout by Wikipedia's English-language service and other popular websites and sparked growing scrutiny of the bill.

The EU is also working to tackle online piracy, but is trying hard to do so without restricting Internet freedom.

"Speeding is illegal too: but you don't put speed bumps on the motorway," Kroes said in a second tweet.