Why is Wikipedia staging a blackout and what is SOPA?
How long will the site be blacked out?
The blackout starts at 12:00 a.m. eastern time (5:00 a.m. GMT) on Wednesday morning and will last until 12:00 a.m. eastern time on Thursday (also 5:00 a.m. GMT).
What exactly is blacked out?
The English-language version of Wikipedia will be offline and replaced with a message related to the anti-piracy legislation going through Congress, SOPA, in the United States. Other language editions of Wikipedia will be unaffected.
Additionally, popular community website Reddit will also be offline, as well as Boing-Boing and several smaller websites.
WordPress is suggesting users black out their own websites, but is not forcing any blackouts.
Whoa, SOPA? What the heck is that?
SOPA, which stands for the Stop Online Piracy Act, is a piece of legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives. The act is designed to target copyright infringers online through a series of harsh penalties.
In the U.S. Senate, a separate companion bill is called the Protect Intellectual Property Act or PIPA...
- Blackout of English-version site expected from 5am (midnight EST) on Tuesday until the same time on Wednesday
- Founder Jimmy Wales called the move an 'extraordinary action' against the endangerment of free speech.
- Redditt, BoingBoing and Mozilla will also join in the protest, while Google will show its support on its homepage.
- Expected to affect 25million users.
How long will the site be blacked out?
The blackout starts at 12:00 a.m. eastern time (5:00 a.m. GMT) on Wednesday morning and will last until 12:00 a.m. eastern time on Thursday (also 5:00 a.m. GMT).
What exactly is blacked out?
The English-language version of Wikipedia will be offline and replaced with a message related to the anti-piracy legislation going through Congress, SOPA, in the United States. Other language editions of Wikipedia will be unaffected.
Additionally, popular community website Reddit will also be offline, as well as Boing-Boing and several smaller websites.
WordPress is suggesting users black out their own websites, but is not forcing any blackouts.
Whoa, SOPA? What the heck is that?
SOPA, which stands for the Stop Online Piracy Act, is a piece of legislation in the U.S. House of Representatives. The act is designed to target copyright infringers online through a series of harsh penalties.
In the U.S. Senate, a separate companion bill is called the Protect Intellectual Property Act or PIPA...