Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia which ranks as the sixth most visited website in the world, will shut down Wednesday (Jan. 18) in protest of the SOPA and PIPA bills making their way through Congress.
SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, and PIPA, the Protect IP Act, are designed to fight online piracy of music and movies. However, Wiki and many of the world’s most popular websites, such as Facebook, Twitter and Google and EBay are opposed to the legislation, saying it will censor the Internet and cause online companies to act as police for the movie and music industries. They also claim the laws would call to block websites who violate pirating guidelines without due process.
The White House annouced it would not support any anti-piracy bills that “reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.” Over the weekend, the House of Representatives agreed to delay voting on SOPA while it addresses “outstanding concerns” regarding the legislation.
According to sopastrike.com, other websites joining Wednesday’s blackout include Reddit, TwitPic, Mozilla, Boing Boing and WordPress.
