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Don’t Be Surprised When You Can’t Get on Wikipedia Tomorrow — Here’s What It’s About

Jan 17, 2012  •  Post A Comment

A fight over legislation designed to slow piracy of content over the Internet may hit home with consumers when Wikipedia goes dark on Wednesday, reports the Los Angeles Times’ Company Town blog.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said Monday that the online encyclopedia would shut down to protest SOPA — the Stop Online Piracy Act — and related legislation, which critics say could harm websites without due process, according to the story.

Dozens of other websites are also joining in the protest, including Reddit and Boing Boing, the piece adds.

"Student warning! Do your homework early. Wikipedia protesting bad law on Wednesday!#sopa," Wales wrote via Twitter.

Major Internet companies such as Google and eBay have also expressed opposition to the legislation, the story says, but so far these operations appear to be stopping short of joining the Wikipedia-led protest.

One of the chief movers behind the SOPA legislation is the Motion Picture Association of America, which called Internet companies’ protests “gimmicks and distortion” and said the companies aren’t working to find a real solution to piracy problems.

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