To protest against the US anti-piracy act, Wikipedia is set to shut down for 24 hours beginning midnight Eastern Time on Wednesday.
During the span of 24 hours, visitors will only be able to see information about the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) on Wiki’s homepage.
Wikipedia would display information on the intricate details of the Bill, and urge readers to contact local Congressmen to vote against the anti-piracy bill.
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales in an interview said this is a quite clumsily drafted legislation which is dangerous for an open Internet.
The bill is seen as benefitting media houses and Hollywood studios, who say the legislation is pivotal in protecting intellectual property and jobs.
SOPA legislation is seen as a threat by the likes of Google, who say it goes too far and is likely to hurt investment. Even White House officials also believe it could make internet vulnerable to litigation and harm free speech.
Wales said there were ways to curb copyright violations without having to go for censorship, as it is feared the US advertising networks could stop carrying online ads, and search engines would be banned from showing results of websites who sell pirated items or merchandise.
Twitter CEO Dick Costolo said he does not think blacking out a global website for a single national issue is appropriate, while Reddit is planning to black out its site for 12 hours the same day.