Why is Wikipedia Down Today?

Wikipedia, Reddit, Boing Boing and other websites went ‘dark’ at midnight EST on Wednesday, January 18. The outage will last for 24 hours. The effort protests two bills currently before Congress: the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA), which aim to combat online intellectual property theft. While the sites condemn internet piracy, they feel that the bills, if passed, would unduly punish content providers and chill the flow of legitimate information worldwide. Opponents hope to encourage discussion and revision of the bills.

For more information about SOPA and PIPA, click here.