Time to dust off the old Encyclopedia Britannica, because all your online facts are about to go unchecked. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has confirmed that the free online encyclopedia will shut down on Wednesday, January 18 in protest of the Stop Online Privacy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA), two anti-piracy bills that are currently being debated in Congress.
“This is going to be wow,” Wales tweeted to his followers. “I hope
Wikipedia will melt phone systems in Washington on Wednesday. Tell
everyone you know!”
The news follows aggregation site Reddit’s announcement that it, too, will be closed for business on Wednesday.
Wales had written earlier on his Wikipedia User Talk page, “I’m all
in favor of it, and I think it would be great if we could act quickly
to coordinate with Reddit.”
Other sites may or may not follow. Jay Rosen, professor of
journalism at NYU had posted on Twitter, “Wikipedia Will Shut Down on
Wednesday to Protest SOPA tnw.co/xRk6oc Twitter, Google, Facebook should join in.”
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