Wikipedia, Reddit and Boing Boing are planning to black out their services Wednesday to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act by showing users the bill’s effect on Web companies.
Wikipedia will block all of its English-language pages — the first time since the encylopedia’s 2001 launch that it has ever restricted access to those pages as a form of protest.
The decision to take down the free Encyclopedia’s English pages was made with the input of 1800 Wikipedia users who voted overwhelmingly in favour of the blackout, according to statement from the Wikimedia Foundation.
Twitter, a long time protestor against the two bills said that instead of pulling down the micro-blogging service which many people use to run their businesses, organize activities and communicate important information, the company will look into how it can use the platform to encourage discussion about the bills.
Can online piracy be stopped? I wonder if ever the answer becomes ‘Yes’. What do you say?