[UPDATE- 1/17/12] Official statement/notification, via Wiki.
[UPDATE- 1/17/12]SOPA protest: 7,000 and growing, say organizers. [End Update]
An estimated 7,000 websites are planning to go dark Wednesday as part of a mass protest against a pair of controversial anti-piracy bills — and opponents of the measures say the number is likely to increase.
[UPDATE]Link via email from contributor "auntybrat", Reports say Wikipedia is temporarily shutting down on Weds. January 18, 2012, in protest to SOPA and PIPA.
Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales says his online encyclopedia is temporarily shutting down. That's because of two bills in U.S. Congress right now, the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA and the Protect IP Act, or PIPA.
The Hill confirms. [End Update]
With news that Harry Reid has decided to push the senate's version of SOPA (The Stop Online Piracy Act), known as PIPA (Protect IP Act), despite lawmakers backing away from the bills after an Internet uproar against both bills, and the White House's concerns, more websites have decided to join Reddit in their online protest where they will be blacking out their site for 12 hours in protest of the SOPA/PIPA bills.This Internet blackout includes sites like Reddit, Boing Boing, and discussions are underway within sites the size of Wikipedia. Wordpress is even providing a special plugin for users who wish to participate in the "strike."
Reddit has a comprehensive FAQ page on SOPA for those that have not been keeping up with the issue.
Via Reddit blog:
We’ve seen some amazing activism organized by redditors at /r/sopa and across the reddit community at large. You have made a difference in this fight; and as we near the next stage, and after much thought, talking with experts, and hearing the overwhelming voices from the reddit community, we have decided that we will be blacking out reddit on January 18th from 8am–8pm EST (1300–0100 UTC).
Yahoo News provides more detail:
Instead of the normal reddit gumbo, visitors will be treated to a message about the impact of the PIPA/SOPA legislation on sites such as reddit. Along with the message will be links to resources for visitors to research the legislation. Reddit will also be showcasing a live video stream of “Internet entrepreneurs and technical experts” testifying at the House hearing. And for those of you looking for activist activities, like meetups or campaigns against PIPA/SOPA, reddit will be spotlighting these that day.
Stop SOPA strike list:
001. reddit: Announcement Link
002. Cheezburger Network: Announcement Link
003. Mojango / Minecraft: Announcement Link
004. XDA Developers: Announcement Link
005. Tucows: Announcement Link
006. Red5 Studios: Annoucement Link
007. Destructoid: Announcement Link
008. Droid Gamers Announcement Link
009. Major League Gaming Network: Announcement Link
010. Sixgun Productions: Announcement Link
011. Genesis Chess: Announcement Link
012. I hate Vodafone Egypt: Announcement Link
013: AnonOps Communications: Announcement Link
014: identi.ca: Announcement Link
015: Age of Coins: Announcement Link
016: CakeWrecks: Announcement Link
017: Rage Maker: Announcement Link
018: Sonic Retro: Announcement Link
019: The Linux Forum: Announcement Link
020: Talk Hosting: Announcement Link
021: Fish On Dry Land: Announcement Link
022: PoliticoINews: Announcement Link
023: Singley Mackey: Announcement Link
024: Theo Patt: Announcement Link
025: Bitacora del Boterran: Announcement Link
026: Boing Boing: Announcement Link
027: FalkVinge: Announcement Link (in the comments)
029: NBL Creations: Announcement Link
030: Sky Temple: Announcement Link
031: Game Generation: Announcement Link
032: Right Angle Recording: Announcement Link
033: Gaming Bus: Announcement Link
034: Harder Blogger Faster: Announcement Link
035: Colossal Mind: Announcement Link
036: Brent Anderson: Announcement Link
037: Working It Out: Announcement Link
038: Through the Eyes of a Pirate: Announcement Link
039: Cynical Brit: Announcement Link
040: Platform Nation: Announcement Link
041: Kahn Labs: Announcement Link
042: Jamacast: Announcement Link
043: Crypto Cat: Announcement Link
044: Gamer's Tube: Announcement Link
045: The Hippy Witch: Announcement Link
046: Boony's ART: Announcement Link
047: Radio Clash: Announcement Link
049: Electronic Rumor: Announcement Link
050: Razer: Announcement Link
051: GKick Network: Announcement Link
052: Revolutionary Politics: Announcement Link
053: Android Inssomnia: Announcement Link
054: Team Royal: Announcement Link
055: Back That Elf Up: Announcement Link
056: Talking about Games: Announcement Link
057: Seek My Beat: via comment on this post
058: Metroid Reorchestrated: Announcement Link
059: Raspberry Pi: Announcement Link
060: Jorja Fox Online: Announcement Link
Sopastrike.com has a partial list of sites joining in on the blackout.
NLB Creations has more names, some verified via their comment sections, others Twitter messages and some confirmed by the websites themselves.
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