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Wikipedia shuts down for 24 hours in anti-piracy legislation protest

By Andy Goldberg Jan 18, 2012, 6:24 GMT

Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, speaks during the opening session at the London Cyberspace Conference in London, Britain, 01 November 2011. EPA/KIRSTY WIGGLESWORTH POOL

San Francisco - Online encyclopedia Wikipedia shut down its English-language site on Wednesday and Google blacked out its famous logo in a 24-hour protest at proposed anti-piracy legislation in the United States.

The unprecedented move came in reaction to two bills making their way through the US Congress, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA).

Critics of the legislation maintain that they would limit free speech and give content owners draconian powers to shut down websites implicated in piracy, even if they merely provide links to copyrighted content.

'Imagine a world without free knowledge,' Wikipedia said on its blacked-out homepage. 'For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the US Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia.'

The website called on users to contact their elected representatives to protest the legislation.

Google slapped a big black banner across its logo and tried to alert users to the alleged dangers of the bills. 'Tell Congress,' said a message on the website. 'Don't censor the web!'

With over 25 million unique visitors per day Wikipedia's US site was the largest web property to block access in protest at the proposal. Other websites taking similar action include news site Reddit, the leftwing advocacy group MoveOn, Mozilla, the maker of Firefox, and the popular blog Boing Boing.

The proposed legislation is strongly supported by US movie and music industries who say web sites should do more to curb the distribution of pirated material.

Those opposing the proposed legislation include Google and Twitter, though both declined to join the overall blackout. 'Closing a global business in reaction to single-issue national politics is foolish,' Twitter chief executive Dick Costolo said.

The White House has indicated it opposes the legislation. 'While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global internet,' it said in a blog posting last week.