A day without Wikipedia? Popular site protests through 24 hour blackout
Wednesday, January 18, 2012 at 7:25PM 
Wikipedia’s blackout was planned for January 18th 05:00 UTC or midnight EST. The popular, free encyclopedia believes that both the SOPA and PIPA bill will harm the Internet. Photo courtesy of Google ImagesBy Catherine Zende
zendec@mytjnow.com
If supporters of the SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) or PIPA (Protect Intelluctual Propery Act) bills thought opposition would never fully organize, Wikipedia’s planned blackout proved otherwise.
The popular online encyclopedia planned to shut down the English version of its site starting on January 18th 05:00 UTC time, or midnight EST.
This blackout is the first staged public protest planned by Wikipedia, according to Wikimedia Foundation, the non-profit organization that operates Wikipedia.
The free encyclopedia planned the protest because, “It is the opinion of the English Wikipedia community that both of these bills, if passed, would be devastating to the free and open web,” according to Wikimedia.
The SOPA bill was introduced to the House of Represenatives as a way to fight copyright infringement and block access to sites that host illegal content.
PIPA was introduced to the Senate before SOPA as another way to fight online piracy, particularly with overseas sites. While SOPA has stalled, PIPA is up for a vote sometime in the near future, though some are asking for a delay.
Despite the fact that neither SOPA nor PIPA have been passed yet, Wikipedia still believes the bills will resurface and gain support.
“The reality is that we don’t think SOPA is going away, and PIPA is still quite active. Moreover, SOPA and PIPA are just indicators of a much broader problem,” according to Wikimedia.
While tech companies strongly oppose the bills, not everyone disagrees with the legislation. The main supporters of the anti-piracy bills are believed to be members of the entertainment community who believe piracy threatens the entertainment industry.
Wikipedia is not the first online web-based company to protest these intellectual property bills, but it is one of the first to take action. Companies like Google, Facebook, Twitter, Ebay and Yahoo made their opposition of the bills clear.
On Wednesday, thousands of websites were estimated to “go black” just like Wikipedia.
While the battle between legislators and web companies could last for several more months, Wikipedia’s goal is clear and determined.
According to Wikimedia, “We want the Internet to remain free and open, everywhere, for everyone.”
