Wikipedia Blackout in Anti-Piracy Law Protest

Wikipedia Blackout in Anti-Piracy Law Protest

Wikipedia will black out its English-language site for 24 hours in protest at proposed US anti-piracy legislation.

If passed, the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) would give content owners and the US government the power to request court orders to shut down websites associated with piracy.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said the act threatens the future of the internet and has said the online encyclopedia site will be shut down from 5am GMT on Wednesday.

Visitors to the site will only be able to see information about 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 sites leading the campaign include Reddit.com and Cheezburger.

"This is a quite clumsily drafted legislation which is dangerous for an open Internet," Wales said in an interview.

The move to black out the site was decided by voting within the Wikipedia community of 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.

The Sopa legislation, under consideration in the House of Representatives, aims to crack down on online sales of pirated American movies, music or other goods by forcing internet companies to block access to foreign sites offering material that violates US copyright laws.

Supporters argue the bill is unlikely to have an impact on US-based websites.

US advertising networks could also be required to stop online ads, and search engines would be barred from directly linking to websites found to be distributing pirated goods.

Google (NasdaqGS: GOOG - news) has repeatedly said the bill goes too far and could hurt investment.

Along with other Internet companies such as Yahoo (NasdaqGS: YHOO - news) , Facebook, Twitter and eBay, it has run advertisements in major newspapers urging Washington lawmakers to rethink their approach.

White House officials raised concerns on Saturday about Sopa saying they believe it could make businesses on the internet vulnerable to litigation and harm legal activity and free speech.

In response, Sopa supporter News Corp chief executive Rupert Murdoch said on Twitter: "So Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery."