The popular blog Reddit will be blacked out for 12 hours on Jan. 18 to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act that is wending its way through the House of Representatives, according to a posting on the site.
The admins of the site write:
Instead of the normal glorious, user-curated chaos of reddit, we will be displaying a simple message about how the PIPA/SOPA legislation would shut down sites like reddit, link to resources to learn more, and suggest ways to take action.
Wikipedia’s founder Jimmy Wales said he would also like to see the online encyclopedia join Reddit’s blackout, the Washington Post reported.
The protest coincides with a House Oversight Committee meeting looking at the proposed legislation. A number of legislators opposed to SOPA have posted their viewpoints on a site called keepthewebopen.com, including California Republican Darrell Issa, chairman of the committee.
I wrote more about a potential large-scale Web blackout to protest SOPA here.
Related articles
- In Protest of SOPA and PIPA, REDDIT Plans 12-hour blackout Jan. 18th (pumabydesign001.com)
- Reddit Turning SOPA “Blackout” Into a “Learn-In” (yro.slashdot.org)
- Reddit to go dark on Jan 18 to protest SOPA (reddit.com)
- Reddit to Black Itself Out Next Week in Protest of SOPA (theatlantic.com)
