The world’s most popular online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, is preparing to blackout for 24 hours beginning midnight Eastern Standard Time (EST) on Tuesday (Jan. 18th) until midnight on Wednesday to protest anti-piracy legislation under consideration in the United States Congress.
In Nigerian time, the blackout would begin 6:00am Wednesday, lasting for 24 hours.
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales announced on Twitter today the popular community-based online encyclopedia would shut down its English versions for a full 24 hours.
Wales said in a statement: “Today Wikipedians from around the world have spoken about their opposition to this destructive legislation. This is an extraordinary action for our community to take – and while we regret having to prevent the world from having access to Wikipedia for even a second, we simply cannot ignore the fact that SOPA and PIPA endanger free speech both in the United States and abroad, and set a frightening precedent of Internet censorship for the world.”
