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Wikipedia joins blackout protest at US anti-piracy moves
Wikipedia has taken its English-language site offline as part of protests against proposed anti-piracy laws in the US, the BBC reported.
Wikipedia's English site has gone offline for 24 hours in a protest against anti-piracy legislation being proposed in Washington
Users attempting to access the site see a black screen and a political statement: "Imagine a world without free knowledge."
The user-generated news site Reddit and the blog Boing Boing are also taking part in the "blackout".
However, Twitter has declined to join the shutdown.
Wikipedia, which attracts millions of hits every day, is opposed to the US Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (Pipa) being debated by Congress.
The legislation would allow the Justice Department and content owners to seek court orders requiring search engines to block results associated with piracy.
Site founder Jimmy Wales said the bill is so badly written that it will have an impact on things that do not have anything to do with stopping piracy.
The message replacing the normal Wikipedia front page on the internet says: "For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopaedia 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."
Google.com joined the protest, blacking out its logo and linking to an online petition urging Congress to not censor the web.
Sopa's supporters in the House of Representatives say the legislation is designed to stop revenue flowing to "rogue websites". A similar bill, Pipa, is making its way through the US Senate.
On Saturday the White House issued a statement that appeared to side with the critics of legislation.
It said: "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."
Though Twitter has not joined in the blackout the protest still has high profile supporters such as New's Corporation's chairman, Rupert Murdoch.
Sites taking part in the shutdown went offline for 24 hours from midnight Eastern Standard Time (05:00 GMT) on Wednesday.
