Might want to get your Encyclopedia Britannica set out of storage: Wikipedia will go dark Wednesday, joining a growing number of popular websites staging an online revolt against two anti-piracy bills.
Founder Jimmy Wales made the announcement in tweets on Monday, telling followers his goal is to "melt phone systems in Washington" in opposition to the Stop Online Piracy Act in the House and the PROTECT IP Act in the Senate.
The online protest puts Wikipedia in the company of other websites such as Reddit and popular games such as Minecraft in leveraging its substantial size and clout to campaign against the bills. Wales suggested on Twitter the impact of the blackout could be significant, given that "comScore estimates the English Wikipedia receives 25 million average daily visitors globally."
"Final details under consideration but consensus seems to be for 'full' rather than 'soft' blackout!," he tweeted.
More details are due later this evening, according to Wikipedia.
The debates over SOPA and PIPA are drawing even some of the most politically averse Internet companies into the Washington fray. They argue the bills would threaten the architecture of the Internet by giving copyright holders and federal law enforcement too much power to shut off access to foreign websites peddling movies, music and other illegal content.
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