Do Your Homework Early, Wikipedia To Go Dark On Wednesday To Protest SOPA

The Stop Only Piracy Act, better known as SOPA, aims to take over control and shut down sites targeted for any type of copyright, no matter how small the infraction. For some CEO’s, specifically News Corps Rupert Murdoch the bill will allow for total control over web content, pushing out small competitors and severely limiting the market. It’s for that reason that Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wiles announced on Monday that Wikipedia will “Go Dark” on Wednesday, January 18.

Wikipedia’s blackout is the longest yet, lasting 24 hours and spreading throughout the websites entire English-language base globally.

The site’s shutdown comes at the same time that uber-popular social sharing and discussion website Reddit will close down for 12-hours in protest of the SOPA and Personal Information Protection Act (PIPA) bills. Reddit has long argued that had SOPA existed when the site first launched it would have been shut down immediately rather than yielding 2 billion pageviews per month as the site currently does.

Wikipedia made the decision to go dark after a “Wikipedia talk” forum yielded positive responses from site users worried about the effects of SOPA.

With Wikipedia on board an entire segment of internet users who may know nothing about SOPA and PIPA will have the chance to learn how big corporations are attempting to limit freedom of speech and personal protections online.

Here’s the tweet Wiles sent out to Wikipedia users:

Do you support the Wikipedia blackout on January 18?

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Tags: PIPA, SOPA, Wikipedia

About the Author

James Johnson James is a new media professional with more than half a decade worth of experience in the online writing space. He currently serves as the Associate Editor of Inquisitr.com and the Editor-in-Chief of SocialNewsDaily.com. He also serves as a resident writer for Splash Press Media. In his spare time James consults businesses regarding SEO and Content Development.