For 24 hours starting from 5am GMT on Wednesday, Wikipedia blocked users from viewing or editing all of its English-language pages except for the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect Intellectual Property Act, the bills it is protesting against.
Google has blanketed its Website with ads in response to the pending legislation: “Fighting online piracy is important. The most effective way to shut down pirate websites is through targeted legislation that cuts off their funding. There’s no need to make American social networks, blogs and search engines censor the Internet or undermine the existing laws that have enabled the Web to thrive, creating millions of U.S. jobs.” Google is asking its supporters to lobby against this legislation.
Two bills before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) is debated in the Senate and the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) is debated in the House of Representatives. The Senate will begin voting on January 24th.
Source: Google and Financial Times
