Wikipedia to go blank in protest over proposed laws
17 Jan 2012
Wikipedia, the popular community-edited online encyclopaedia, will black out its English-language site for 24 hours to seek support against proposed anti-piracy legislation that is currently before the US Congress, and which Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said threatens the future of the internet.
Wikipedia will be the highest profile name to join a growing campaign starting at midnight Eastern Time on Wednesday that will see it black out its page so that visitors will only see information about the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA).
The information will urge Wikipedia readers to contact their local congressman to vote against the bills.
Other smaller sites leading the campaign include Reddit.com and Cheezeburger, and Boing Boing.
"This is a quite clumsily drafted legislation which is dangerous for an open internet," said Wales in an interview.
The decision to black out the site was decided by voting among some 1,800 Wikipedians - writers and editors who manage the free service, Wales said. The English language Wikipedia receives more than 25 million average daily visitors from around the world, according to comScore data.