HERE IS a shock for all those general knowledge buffs and students who would search Wikipedia for all the information day in and out. Type Wikipedia and to your shocking display, you will see a custom message, ‘we are blacking out’. World’s largest encyclopaedia has gone dark for 24 hours, starting this Wednesday in protest against the SOPA and Protect Intellectual Property Act in the US.

 

The acts propose to curb the illegal online copying and sharing of movies and music on the Internet and the operations of foreign fake websites that dupe American customers. But some major Internet companies including the Wikipedia claim that it will force them in an impossible world of policing.

 

An estimated 100million people will be affected by the one-day closure of the online encyclopaedia, which has become a vital tool for businesses and students. Jimmy Wales, who founded the site, warned students via Twitter to ‘do your homework early’ ahead of the shutdown, reported the Daily Mail.

 

Wales has called for an uprising to stop against the bills that he deems will ‘endanger free speech and set a frightening precedent of internet censorship for the world’. Others joining what has been dubbed "black Wednesday" include the user-generated content recommendation website Reddit, technology news site Boing Boing, and the Cheezburger network of humorous sites, reported the Guardian.

 

Besides the students and researchers, technos would also be affected for more than 12 hours as their favourite technical website; Boing Boing is also down today. Just a click on the website and you will find a custom message, ‘Boing Boing is offline today, because the US Senate is considering legislation that would certainly kill us forever. The legislation is called the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA), and would put us in legal jeopardy if we linked to a site anywhere online that had any links to copyright infringement.’

 

Wales had already warned the users ‘to do their homework early and asked them that wouldn’t be able to access the 3.8 million articles available on the website. He even said that they may have to dust off their old Encyclopaedia Britannica.

 

Hordes of digital companies that have gained their feet in the recent time have been very critical of the acts. Even Google is opposing the move but it is not shutting down and instead will highlight the issue on its US home page.

 

Even the media tycoons like Rupert Murdoch have jumped the bandwagon and the media heavyweight has criticised the White House for its hints that it wouldn’t support the ‘draconoian elements of the act’.

 

In a series of tweets, Murdoch came down heavily on the president Obama. “So Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy. Plain thievery," Murdoch wrote in a series of tweets, which also accused Google of facilitating piracy”, reported the Guardian.

Also read: http://www.merinews.com/article/internet-users-fear-the-draconian-sopa-act/15862735.shtml