Wikipedia joins Wednesday's web blackout: but you can moan about it on Twitter

Wikipedia has become the latest high profile website to come out in support of Wednesday’s protest against SOPA, the controversial US Stop Online Piracy Act.

If it was passed, the Act would allow companies that own content (such as films and music) to make court requests to shut down websites associated with the sharing of said content (online piracy).

Huge US sites such as Reddit and Cheezburger had already pledged their support to shutting down for 24 hours from 5am GMT this Wednesday, but Wikipedia’s inclusion led to a retort from Twitter chief executive Dick Costello.

The Twitter man tweeted (naturally): “That’s just silly. Closing a global business in reaction to single-issue national politics is foolish.”

As you may have guessed, Twitter will not be joining in the fun on Wednesday.
The Wikipedia response was a little better measured, stating SOPA was an indicator of, “a much bigger problem”.

It went on: “All around the world, we're seeing the development of legislation intended to fight online piracy, and regulate the internet in other ways, that hurt online freedoms."

This is a popular view, also supported by Google and others. While many agree this individual Act would have a small impact on American websites, it is more the growing trend to try and regulate and control the internet at governmental level which is worrying.

Elsewhere, it would seem US president Barack Obama has joined those raising concerns on the ‘anti’ side of the legislation, with odious media baron Rupert Murdoch on the other. Now there’s a fight we’d like to see.