Wikipedia Will Go Dark On Wednesday to Protest SOPA

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Wikipedia will be joining the blackout planned for Wednesday to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA), the two Congressional anti-piracy bills that are widely opposed by the tech community. Last week Reddit announced that it will be going dark from 8am till 8pm on Wednesday, January 18th, the day that House Oversight Committee Chairman Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) had called a hearing about SOPA. But, as of Saturday morning, Issa said that SOPA will be shelved and not voted on until “consensus” can be built. On Thursday, Sen. Patrick Leahy (D-Vt.), the sponsor of PIPA, said he was open to changes about the DNS-blocking provision in the bill, another sign of politicians’ growing awareness of the extent of opposition to both bills.

Both SOPA and PIPA aim to curtail online piracy by giving the Department of Justice new powers to shut down sites that offer access to copyright materials including music, movies and TV shows. The tech community, including the likes of Google and Facebook, has strongly opposed both bills, contending that, while it is certainly necessary to fight online piracy, the two pieces of legislation currently being considered in Congress are flawed and, if passed, will stifle the freedom of expression and innovation that make the Internet what it is. The Obama administration has also expressed its concerns about how SOPA and PIPA could “[disrupt] the underlying architecture of the Internet.”

On Monday, Jimmy Wales, the co-founder of Wikipedia, wrote on Twitter:

“Student warning! Do your homework early. Wikipedia protesting bad law on Wednesday!”

Wikipedia will go dark from midnight Tuesday till midnight Wednesday (eastern time), an unprecedented event; the Italian-version of Wikipedia had staged a blackout in October in response to an anti-piracy bill proposed by the Italian Parliament. Only the English-language version of Wikipedia will be affected by Wednesday’s blackout.

As Wales said in a phone interview with the New York Times:

“What will make a difference is for ordinary people to pick up the phone and send an email or a letter to their representatives about this. When you consider the magnitude of how many people use Wikipedia globally, there is a potential here for really creating some noise and getting some attention in the U.S.”

Mr. Wales said that if passed, the bills could censor what information and links that sites like Wikipedia would be permitted to publish.

“The government could tell us that we could write a entry about the history of the Pirate Bay but not allow to link to it. That’s a First Amendment issue.”

The Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA) and the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) are both powerful supporters of SOPA and PIPA.

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Image by padeluun via Wikimedia Commons

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Portland N.

9:51AM PST on Jan 20, 2012

Thank you for the update!

send a green star

Silvia M.

5:09AM PST on Jan 20, 2012

thanks for the info

Serena A.

7:12PM PST on Jan 18, 2012

good idea

nath s.

1:41PM PST on Jan 18, 2012

who were behind these? some elite could not manipulate the world if the information is open world wide... so they planned to divert the subject... using PIRACY law proposal

Monica F.

1:04PM PST on Jan 18, 2012

Very happy! This would be so cool if youtube twitter facebook and other websites do the blackout but, i can't live without youtube. xc

Michael C.

12:44PM PST on Jan 18, 2012

Small correction, it should read ?banner=false at the end of the banner.

12:36PM PST on Jan 18, 2012

Denny G, Do not dispair, all is well. You are about to learn a secret, write it down, it will be called upon in the future.

Did someone tell me that I can't access Wikipedia? Just not so... follow my guide.  

Thanks to the power of a Mac, we have the answer.  let's say, we are typing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act, no good, right.  

Now type in ?banner+false, it in the script, easy, no.

  It should look like this, it often works across the web. Try it, you'll like it. Mikey tried it.  

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stop_Online_Piracy_Act?banner=false

DENNY G.

11:10AM PST on Jan 18, 2012

We missed u a lot, Wikipedia!!!
Hi frnds, I have started a petition on similar lines - against Internet Censorship in India. Pls add ur signatures to that campaign as well. Here's the link;

http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/ban-internet-censorship-in-india-stop-legal-action-on-social-media-sites/

We need to work together to keep our rights open.

Mrs S.

9:57AM PST on Jan 18, 2012

I'm not American nor do I live in the states so-unfortantely-my opinion wouldnt make a difference to your lawmakers, but I guess we all learned something this hump-day: life is kinda tough without wikipedia :/

Melissa F.

9:53AM PST on Jan 18, 2012

Please don't cancel the internet & our freedom of speech!!!!