The English-language site of Wikipedia will be going offline for 24 hours to show protest against two American anti-piracy laws, the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) and Stop ONline Piracy Act (SOPA). The temporary closure is one of the most highly commented discussions on the site, where 591 users supported a global blackout, while 479 supported a U.S. only blackout.
Aside from Wikipedia, other websites such as Boing Boing and Reddit said that they will also go offline on Wednesday. Some of the big names online, including Facebook, Google, Tumblr and Twitter, are opposing the proposed bills even though they are not joining the blackout.
“Like many businesses, entrepreneurs and web users, we oppose these bills because there are smart, targeted ways to shut down foreign rogue websites without asking American companies to censor the Internet,” a spokesperson from Google said.
The SOPA and PIPA have been presented as a way to fight piracy and to protect record labels, movie studios and other similar businesses. Supporters range from the United States Chamber of Commerce to the Country Music Association.
As of now, the House bill is on hold and U.S. Senator Patrick Leahy, one of the bill’s supporters, said that he is in favor of research on provisions that raised objections from ISPs. Senator Harry Reid said that he intends to pursue pushing PIPA forward because it is “job-saving,” although he noted that it has issues that needed to be resolved.
via: Wiki News