Wikipedia will black out its Web site Wednesday to protest SOPA, the of anti-piracy legislation that’s being considered by Congress.
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales made the announcement on Twitter on Monday, saying the site would shut down English versions of the crowd-sourced online encyclopedia at midnight Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday until midnight Wednesday.
I am just starting to do press interviews about the upcoming blackout of Wikipedia to protest #sopa and #pipa ("Protect IP").— Jimmy Wales (@jimmy_wales) January 16, 2012
Wikipedia is not alone in its plans for a blackout. Reddit and the Cheezburger network, which includes sites like The Daily What and Fail Blog, also plan to shut down to protest SOPA. The document service Scribd already made a billion pages vanish. Craigslist boasts a notice on its home page saying “Stop SOPA and PIPA. [The bills] are threatening Craigslist and the rest of your Internet. Most of the web sites you use strongly oppose these bills.”
The online protests are changing the debate.
Wales called the move a “community decision.” He pointed to a page that was created to gauge support for a possible blackout. Users have until 6:59 p.m. Tuesday to weigh in on the decision.
Wales and other SOPA opponents hope to draw attention to language in SOPA that, according to some, is too broad and could hurt free speech and innovation.
Over the weekend, the White House hinted that it would oppose the current version of the bill. And key sponsors are stepping away from its most controversial aspects.
If Wikipedia blacks out as promised, Wales expects an estimated 25 million daily visitors to be affected. His advice for students who might rely on the site: “Do your homework early.”
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales made the announcement on Twitter on Monday, saying the site would shut down English versions of the crowd-sourced online encyclopedia at midnight Eastern Standard Time on Tuesday until midnight Wednesday.
I am just starting to do press interviews about the upcoming blackout of Wikipedia to protest #sopa and #pipa ("Protect IP").— Jimmy Wales (@jimmy_wales) January 16, 2012
Wikipedia is not alone in its plans for a blackout. Reddit and the Cheezburger network, which includes sites like The Daily What and Fail Blog, also plan to shut down to protest SOPA. The document service Scribd already made a billion pages vanish. Craigslist boasts a notice on its home page saying “Stop SOPA and PIPA. [The bills] are threatening Craigslist and the rest of your Internet. Most of the web sites you use strongly oppose these bills.”
The online protests are changing the debate.
Wales called the move a “community decision.” He pointed to a page that was created to gauge support for a possible blackout. Users have until 6:59 p.m. Tuesday to weigh in on the decision.
Wales and other SOPA opponents hope to draw attention to language in SOPA that, according to some, is too broad and could hurt free speech and innovation.
Over the weekend, the White House hinted that it would oppose the current version of the bill. And key sponsors are stepping away from its most controversial aspects.
If Wikipedia blacks out as promised, Wales expects an estimated 25 million daily visitors to be affected. His advice for students who might rely on the site: “Do your homework early.”
51 comments:
A blackout of popular sites like these could be just what this country's students need (not want, and certainly not wish for), but I'm thinking it'd be a healthful thing for these sites to regularly go down, say on weekends when students are frantically finishing last minute homework and Wikipedia "research" (Wikipedia isn't all that of an inaccurate source; it's good for knowing the general public knowledge on a subject, but it just isn't widely accepted by authoritative figures in school as a valid citation no matter the social credentials). Regular weekend shutdowns would be a nasty yet conducive form of medicine to cure procrastination. However, unfortunately this would bring about even more protest (especially from those gleeful tarryers), and I'm afraid it wouldn't have that positive of an impact on the American economy even if beneficial to some lifestyles.
Internet has become a valuable part of our everyday lives. Just now I looked up the SOPA act to find out more about the legislation and wikipedia was the first link I clicked on yet they had not shut down. I think this would have been a productive way to gain support against the bill because people would have realized how much they rely on material that has been copywrighted. I also find it interesting that with the modern technological era we are beginning to see protests that are more technologically oriented.
I think that it is a great idea for Jimmy Wales to protest against SOPA because Wikipedia is one of the main information websites on the internet. If SOPA goes through and gets passed, Wikipedia will be severely hurt. It is basically shutting the world from having free knowledge. Although it would be good to stop the streaming of copyrighted content, it would also make it more difficult to search for things on the web by not allowing search engines to link to such sites.
The SOPA Act has many pros and cons, obviously. The whole idea behind the act is a decent attempt at dis-allowing the use of copyrighted material, but people nowadays, not only students, use sites like Wikipedia all the time. People say, "Well, Wikipedia isn't even that reliable anyway", but to be honest, it's the best there is. I'm sure the site has millions of hits daily, and the SOPA act will only cause MULTIPLE protests. Occupy the Internet anyone?
Regardless, the whole idea of the SOPA Act is a positive one, but the way in which it will go about monitoring copyrighted material is not.
This is one way to protest the new bills that are currently in the debate stage, but have they websites that blacked out though that there are things that limit our free speach now? There are laws not that even speaking a threat against the president is against the law. Where someone would say "Im gunna kill (insert name here)" becasue they are angry at that person not intending to hurt that person saying that about the president is against the law. That limits our free speach and no one has gone dark for a day because of that. I may not know much about what this bill limits but it seems to me a bit excessive to go dark for a day just to protest the bill. If you reall want to kill the bill in house then just talk to the people who vote on in and get them on your side.
Agreeing that Wikipedia isn't exactly the most reliable source, I think that the website being "blackouted" will, and already has, created a huge uproar. Lazy teenagers and adults will now actually have to research subjects versus typing a couple of words into one information site that may or may not be all that reliable, not to mention copyrighted. Personally, I don't trust the website. I understand Jimmy Wales' protest, but I think it will hopefully help America to stop being lazy.
This is an appropriate form of protest for such a bill and I believe its effectiveness will spark future website shut-downs, as the world of protest catches up to the world of technology. Not only were millions affected, by the shut down, but this highly increased political participation. Many angry citizens, after further understanding the purpose of the SOPA act wrote letters, made phone calls, and voiced their opinions to the best of the ability. By the standard of effectiveness and increased awareness, this protest has been highly successful.
If the SOPA act is passed that will be another way for those people in authority to abuse their power and control more of our lives. The last thing will need is for the Internet to be limited and we would lack the ability to obtain information. I am a person who only really uses Wikipedia when I need information quick and easy. I am glad the see the certain sites that have a chance of being affected by this act come together not only for their sake but the people who also depend on those sites for needed information.
If the SOPA act is passed that will be another way for those people in authority to abuse their power and control more of our lives. The last thing will need is for the Internet to be limited and we would lack the ability to obtain information. I am a person who only really uses Wikipedia when I need information quick and easy. I am glad the see the certain sites that have a chance of being affected by this act come together not only for their sake but the people who also depend on those sites for needed information.
The way internet is impacting society today, a regular shut down of these sorts of reference websites is rather unrealistic. Having Wiki blacked out probably gave some people a wake-up call about how SOPA/PIPA could have affected the internet society. These bills were far to vague to actually put in to effect, and it's comforting to know that some of the people backing the bill paid attention to the online protests.
The internet and social networking is such an important part of society...Look at the Arab Spring! It's a bit difficult to draw the line with these sorts of things; there will always be someone trying to get around the block.
I think shutting down ways to pirate media on the internet is a good idea, along with taking off porn and morally disgusting content. People are loosing a lot of money from illegal downloading, and many more are being poisoned by morally unethical content. I also think they should leave pages like Wikipedia alone, Wiki is a good information source, even though students can not use it for situations in essays and research projects, but it is kind of like a quick information source.
Shutting down one website is not enough to get the point across. Yes you will be able to stop the flow of information through that website, but with the way technology is today, another website just like Wikipedia would be created. Having an occasional black out does nothing but upset people that need easy access to information for whatever the reason may be. As far as shutting down websites completely to help stop SOPA, I feel that such a movement would only encourage people to create alternate sources for the information that is needed.
Wikipedia is ranked six in internet traffic globally. The black out was a huge blow against SOPA/PIPA, as can be seen by the number of Congressmen who dropped support shortly after (I heard one account that a well-known Congressman received over 3000 calls relating to SOPA which convinced him to back off). Now that SOPA is on the shelf let's see what this does against PIPA.
I agree with Brittany that it was a good idea for Jimmy Wales to shut down Wikipedia. I think that we have bigger problems to worry about than if things on the internet are copyrighted. If SOPA does pass it will effect a lot of people. Not just students trying to finish their homework but everyday people who just want more information.
The SOPA and PIPA bills would limit free speech and make research much more difficult. They have a noble cause to stop piracy but it would also punish sites like Google and Wikipedia that have links to sites with copyrighted materials and the industry would suffer. This bill simply is not American only countries without the freedom of speech and press like China, Iran, and Afghanistan have ban list that have the potential to limit the availability information. This bill probably wont pass because of the high amounts of criticism that it is receiving from Google and Wikipedia and many others. Plus the article said that many of the supporters are backing away from the bills probably because its an election year and they wouldn't want to be mixed up in the controversial bill.
The SOPA and PIPA bills would limit free speech and make research much more difficult. They have a noble cause to stop piracy but it would also punish sites like Google and Wikipedia that have links to sites with copyrighted materials and the industry would suffer. This bill simply is not American only countries without the freedom of speech and press like China, Iran, and Afghanistan have ban list that have the potential to limit the availability information. This bill probably wont pass because of the high amounts of criticism that it is receiving from Google and Wikipedia and many others. Plus the article said that many of the supporters are backing away from the bills probably because its an election year and they wouldn't want to be mixed up in the controversial bill.
As much as I enjoy using Wikipedia, I am glad they shut down temporarily to take action against SOPA and PIPA (many sites cannot shut down without losing thousands of dollars in advertising daily; Wikipedia has no advertising). Online piracy is a serious problem that needs to be addressed more fully than it sometimes is, but these are not the right bills to stop it.
In an interview I watched, Jimmy Wales addressed piracy on Wikipedia and YouTube by detailing the system they already use to deal with piracy- if someone reports that a video/article contains pirated material, the site is obligated to remove it. He went on to condemn sites like Pirate Bay, but said that pirated content on that site should be handled like a "trade dispute", as opposed to the way SOPA promises to handle it, which is to cut off its oxygen, so to speak. SOPA would force internet search engines to stop listing sites that "have a high probability of having pirated content". I am wary of this unspecific language because I think it gives too much power to the government to remove sites that do not definitely host pirated content (there is too much room for personal judgment, which would more easily allow personal interests and bias to enter the system). Furthermore, I do not think the government should have the power to shut down sites, just demand stolen material to be removed and the injured parties compensated. So I agree with Wales, SOPA and PIPA are not the right bills to stop piracy and I hope they will not be passed.
I understand that online piracy can create many problems with buisnesses and websites with copyrited materials. However, many of these websites that are using pirated information are major sources to millions of students or people looking for information. But, if websites want to draw attention to this and protest, shutting things down is a great approach because it will upset daily users. I know I use Wikipedia frequently, although it is not always accurate.
If the SOPA act is passed that will be another way for those people in authority to abuse their power and control more of our lives. The last thing will need is for the Internet to be limited and we would lack the ability to obtain information. I am a person who only really uses Wikipedia when I need information quick and easy. I am glad the see the certain sites that have a chance of being affected by this act come together not only for their sake but the people who also depend on those sites for needed information.
Personally I believe in what Wikipedia is doing by protesting this act. Millions of people rely on these types of website for information, and to just up and pass a law that has a major impact on it isn't in the best interest on the public. This act should not be past it is out right to use these types of website to better inform ourselfs with knowledge about a certain topic, and without these websites its really going to hinder our ability to find information easily. Without these websites it is going to make the web search a much much more complicated place.
I understand that the idea behind the blackout was to protest SOPA and show what it would be like if SOPA got passed, but by shutting down the sites, aren't the people running the sites just pandering to what SOPA wants to happen? It seems like a better way to protest would have been to keep their sites up and have a "Protest SOPA" button or something to gather support for their goals. To me the blackout was not a good form of protest and certainly not the most effective. I disprove of SOPA and think that it is a horrible idea, but having ill-thought out protests is not a good way to stop it from passing. I do, however, think that the blackouts were an interesting insight in to how much the American people use the sites that got blacked out. It showed that people were maybe too dependent on the sites, for information as well as killing time.
After researching the SOPA, I understand both parties views on why it should or shouldn't be passed. Studios, record labels, and anyone involved in the entertainment industry are losing money because of infringed files that are being hosted on many different sites. Since people normally look for these sites for reduced prices, the companys are not recieving any payment for their works. While we have the DMCA which partols many popular sites, they want to reinforce it with the SOPA. But I agree that the guildlines for the SOPA and PIPA are too broad and could be misused to take down blogs or informational posts.
I think the blackout proved a point to the government that such a bill would not be tolerated by the general majority of United States internet users, but there is definitely a need for piracy to be better moderated. However, the groups supporting this bill were using an axe to try to fix something where a scalpel is needed. Take, for example, the removal of the website "MegaUpload." It is not the site owners who are uploading the illegal material, but rather a population of the users. In addition, it should be known that MegaUpload removes material and bans users that infringe on copyright laws. They need to treat the disease rather than the symptoms (disease being internet piracy, symptoms being the websites to which it is uploaded.) Sites such as MegaUpload and MediaFire are not websites devoted to pirated materials; it just happens that they are the mediums by which it can be transmitted. Cutting those websites will not fix anything; pirated materials can and will be spread through other means.
And SOPA is dead! :) We never really know how much we need these websites that we use on a day to day basis untill something like this hits us. We all use Google and Wikipedia and other sites to help us know whats going on in the world and ask questions we dont know answers to and so much more and who knows what would have happened but thank goodness for Jimmy and many other sites for protesting because it was destroyed! :D
i think what jimmy wales is doing is really good. students get alot of information from wikipedia and the just the internet inparticuarly. i think we should have our own rights to use the internet and such sites as we please. the only good that could come out of shutting down certian sites would be a very big decrease in plagarism, piracy, and copying of copyright content. the u.s. for example is advancing technilogically way too fast to try and shut down certain websites. the internet has almost become a necessity to peoples every day lives, so taking away certain websites and such would upset very, very many people.
Wikipedia's protests are a good way to bring attention to the subject in a way that forces website fans what it would be like without the website. The blackout brings the fans to a better realization of what SOPA and PIPA are attempting to do. I think if there is enough protesting from these popular websites, Internet users will be more willing to state their opinions and make the creators of these bills aware of their opinions.
I completely agree with Waverly. American's don't NEED these sites, they're just a handy thing to have. We abuse the power of having information at the tip of our fingers... Especially during tests or like Waverly said, " on weekends when students are frantically finishing last minute homework..." Wikipedia is a far but reliable source, but like Brittany said, "it's free knowledge." We shouldn't cut it off completely, just at specific times.
The idea to black out Wikipedia is a fantastic way to bring awareness to the SOPA and PIPA acts it really encourages people to look into the acts and actually understand what legislation is trying to pass. The idea that they are trying to pass an act like this is crazy to me so many people use sites like this to get basic knowledge on something I find my self often using it to do a bunch of things like do homework or even to look up song lyrics, so the idea that it might not be there anymore really bothers me.
Since we did that worksheet about how government policies affect our lives, I have tried to become more aware about such policies. However, with the SOPA and PIPA bills, the internet has done the work for me. SOPA and PIPA would change the internet as we know it by allowing the government to shut down entire internet domains if just one blog or webpage violated privacy laws. For example, if someone uploaded a single pirated video onto Youtube, the government could legally SHUT DOWN YOUTUBE. Website communities like Wikipedia, Tumblr, Pinterest, Etsy, and Flickr would not be long for this world. I, personally, really like some of these websites and think we should all stand together to make sure these bills do not pass.
Shutting down sites such as these would be a major inconvenience to people. The only people that would support SOPA would be the people that would gain something financially. Shutting down Wikipedia is only going to show people how much it's relied on. I'm sure a congressmen or two has used Wikipedia before anyways.
Agreeing with Roeger, Wikipedia's blockout could be the best thing for the students but could hurt the American economy more than it already is. Eventhough their information is not as accurate as people thionk it is, Wikipedia has many followers and supporters that will riot and protest against this blockout. Many principals and teachers would not approve of the invalid information that Wikipedia provides. I believe that there are more sights that students can rely on besides Wikipedia that are exceptionally more reliable and written by experts that know more about the desired subject the students are looking for.
PIPA and SOPA want to go anywhere in the world and censor content. The mechanism for doing this is to take out anybody pointing to the IP addresses. You need to take them out of search engines, you need to take them out of online directories, you need to take them out of user lists. And because the biggest producers of content on the Internet are not Google and Yahoo, they're us, we're the people getting policed. The real threat to the enactment of PIPA and SOPA is the ability to share things with one another. Yes, it might be good to control streaming of copyrighted content, but SOPA and PIPA are too broad, and they're taking away our rights to produce, create and share and they're taking away our rights to free knowledge. I think the blacking out of websites like Wikipedia was a good idea because these bills affects many of the websites people use on a daily basis.
Teens are very dependent on the Internet to get information about homework. But I think that the blackout of sites are sometimes neccessary. For an example, whenever a teen has to write an essay, last minute, instead of using his/her own words and perception about about a situation he/she depends on the site, such as Wikipedia to help them build their essay. So maybe if sites are blacked out from time to time, teens would not depend on the Internet but depend on themselves to get their homework done.
The SOPA bill may be threatening other websites that many Americans today use, and in that case Wikipedia has the right to protest. The bill may not be directed towards websites such as Wikipedia, but it will not be long until another bill may be passed and Wikipedia will be shut down. In many other countries, the internet is censored to the general public. If that happens to America though, not only will websites blackout, the people of America will retaliate. The internet is such an important part to the lives of many Americans to the point that we are dependent upon it. Without the internet, many parts of our lives shut down. Wikipedia is honestly imperative to many of us and if it blacks out forever then 25 million people will eternally be affected.
Aside from the fact that shutdowns like this are more than a detriment to my already scarce willingness to do my homework, they have proven to be a very effective means of changing the minds of pro-SOPA legislators. It's interesting to me that this bill even came close to passing, as I have yet to meet someone who supports it. It's really a shame SOPA was so overwritten, because it actually includes a few good things. For example, I don't think people should be able to download music for free. It's one thing to stream songs online, but when you download songs without paying, you steal some musicians livelihood. People's property should be protected.
I'm extremely glad SOPA and PIPA have been dropped. It is amazing to see the Internet community pulling together to protest. The joint efforts of popular Internet websites such as Wikipedia, Reddit, etc, have really made an impact in whether or not this would be passed. I am pretty sure the majority of the community is against these acts.
i think a blackout on popular sites like these would be a bad idea because we rely on the internet for everything now.i think its good that Jimmy Wales is protesting against SOPA because if it goes through the society will really be hurt.
If the government shuts down Wikipedia It's going to have a large effect on the world. Mainly because everyone depends on Wikipedia for information such as students. Wikipedia is one of the most used websites in the whole entire world!!. Every time I have homework or have to research something I go to Wikipedia. However SOPA is not just going to shut down Wikipedia It's going to shut down alot of websites, people use it in there everyday lives, even for work. A lot of people depend on technology now a days, so the SOPA Bill is going to have a lot of responses from people all over the world.
Wikipedia is one of the main websites people and students go to for a better understanding of anything they are searching for. I am with Jimmy Wales idea to protest against SOPA. The internet has became a great part of our lives and we have became dependent of it. The internet is free knowledge, so why would they take free knowledge away from us?
As a result of this, unemployment will be at its highest and will eventually create a bigger problem in the world. Because a lot of people work at home through the internet and are dependant on it.
I honestly think Jimmy Wales is doing the right thing by protesting against SOPA. Yea theres plenty of us that look stuff up on Wikipedia but its for our knowledge. Plus its free to learn something new. Even though theres some people that are lazy and copy everything word for word. I can see why theres a variety of blackouts on popular sites, but if Wikipedia goes through with it, it would be difficult for us.
I honestly think Jimmy Wales is doing the right thing by protesting against SOPA. Yea theres plenty of us that look stuff up but its for our knowlegde. We like to research information on Wikipedia because its free. Even though theres some people that are lazy and like to procrasinate, they like to copy from word to word. I can see why they are blacking out popular sites. However if Wikipedia goes through then its going to very difficult for us to research information.
I can understand Jimmy Wales's need to act by protesting SOPA,since the legislation directly threatens his widely-used online encyclopedia. I agree with the motivation behind SOPA, but the bill assumes that all forms of piracy are bad and fails to recognize that sources like Wikipedia are more beneficial to our society than they are harmful. Getting access to information quickly through search engines and online encyclopedias is just a small part of the technological revolution that we are currently undergoing. As our society becomes "cyberspace-dependent," I think SOPA needs to reconsider what its actual goal is and come up with a modified bill that will tackle only certain aspects of piracy. As copyrighted information is being spread all over the internet, piracy is more common than ever, but not all forms of piracy are significant or harmful. I think it is safe to say that if SOPA passes, most internet-users (whether they know it or not) are in trouble.
Good for Wikipedia. I don't think people realize the potential implications of the SOPA and PIPA bills, and it really is quite sad how ignorant the general population is of the whole problem. Pretty much every site that allows user generated content (this includes commenting, providing links, posting pictures/videos) will be affected. Youtube, Wikipedia, Facebook, Photobucket, and yes even Blogspot could be potentially shut down. The disturbingly broad wording of the bill makes me wonder what the creators of it are truly after. Sites will be taken down based only on a copyright holder's suspicion. No due process, no nothing. And look who's supporting the bill. Fox, Activision, Hollywood. So...the world's largest news company, film distributor, and video game publisher are all in support of a bill that will allow them to shut down any site that can potentially harm them, while sites like Wikipedia and Youtube, that promote freedom of speech and information, are against said bill. HMMMM, makes me wonder.
I am definately against the SOPA act and any other attempt at government interference with the internet and our use of it. Therefore i think the protesting of these acts is great. I understand why they would want to monitor it however wikipedia and the web in general are crucial sources of information in our every day lives. I cant imagine how many times a day i pull out my phone and google something. I do not think these bills should be passed.
This bill is an attempt by hollywood to protect thier materials from piracy and is supported by Harry Reid and former democrat senator Chris Dodd (chairmain of the motion picture association of America). However, this bill presents a big delima for the Obama administration because he must choose between backing his many supporters in hollywood or making many large search engines and other websites angry. In the end his administration has chosen to please Google, Wiki, Yahoo, etc. I for one am on Obama's side for ounce but not for the same reasons as him. I support this bill because Im glad to see these liberals in hollywood loose some money for ounce(how rich do they want to be) and think we have bigger fish to frie than some teanager pirating copywrited material for an amature video.
The blackout brought much needed attention to the bills SOPA and PIPA. Both bills infringed on US Citizen's rights, and the people asserted their rights and told the government their grievances. I personally wrote a letter to Mr. Neugaubauer since I had nothing better on the Internet to do, and I feel many people did the same. Around 70 representatives dropped their support for SOPA, which effectively killed the bill. Blacking-out websites was the attention-grabber that the anti-SOPA movement needed. It brought awareness to the cause, and solved the problem effectively.
Although the concept behind SOPA and PIPA is a major topic in todays world and is in definite need of being addressed, the fact of the matter is the bills are worded much too loosely to even be considered for new laws until the are revised. Passing a bill such as SOPA or PIPA would allow the government to have too much power over the freedom of the Internet that most of the United States enjoys today, and would inevitably end in direct violation of our rights as Americans. Having major online resources -- such as Wikipedia -- make the decision to "black out" in order to protest these bills is a perfect indicator of how poorly designed the bills are, and at the same time is giving Americans a glimpse of what it would be like to have our lives censored. Even though Wikipedia's main ideal is to hold an unbiased position on issues, that one-day-glimpse at censorship has helped gain a lot of support against the bills that are constitutionally unsound.
Many people in America probably don't follow up on what congress or the government is currently brewing up. I think the decision by Jimmy Wales and the rest of the Wikipedia community to black out the website is a great idea. One, it will inform the twenty-five million english Wikipedia users of this legislation and what will happen if it is passed. Secondly, it will probably inspire many other websites to do something in a similar fashion.
Wikipedia blacking out is flat out a great protest. They are one of the nation's go to sites for anything. Passing SOPA will just hurt a lot more Americans then help us. A LOT. The way Wikipedia protested is generally the best way, we have to give them a taste of what they will cause. I am against SOPA, I barely watch TV and when I do it is usually on my laptop. It will take away a huge part of my entertainment. The internet is already blocked at peoples school and jobs, the bill will take away the freedom we have at our own houses.
I think it's a good idea to protest against SOPA by blacking out the website because it will show the government how many people use the site regularly and how important they are to have as a reference in everyday life. People use sites such as Wikipedia daily, and without them it would be hard for the world to function. The government may be trying to get rid of copyrighting by shutting down some websites but, there are plenty of other ways to copyright and they can't all be stopped.
I think it's a good idea to protest against SOPA by blacking out the website because it will show the government how many people use the site regularly and how important they are to have as a reference in everyday life. People use sites such as Wikipedia daily, and without them it would be hard for the world to function. The government may be trying to get rid of copyrighting by shutting down some websites but, there are plenty of other ways to copyright and they can't all be stopped.
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