Today, January 18, online services Reddit and Wikipedia will perform global blackouts in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in hopes that it will spur action in the American public.

Google is also taking part in the anti-censorship actions, by placing a black censorship bar across their logo today, and displaying a message below their search bar saying, “Tell Congress: Please don’t censor the web!” They also provide a link to site informing the public about the risks of censorship.

Reddit stated in its announcement blog post: “The freedom, innovation, and economic opportunity that the Internet enables is in jeopardy,” it continues. “Congress is considering legislation that will dramatically change your Internet experience and put an end to Reddit and many other sites you use everyday.”

The Wikimedia Foundation’s Sue Gardner, executive director, similarly posted an open letter to Wikipedia’s readers on Jan. 16 expressing its stance on the legislation.

House Bill 3261, known as the SOPA, was proposed by House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar S. Smith of Texas in an effort to, according to the direct wording of the bill, “promote prosperity, creativity, entrepreneurship, and innovation by combating the theft of U.S. property, and for other purposes.”

The bill, as originally proposed, would allow the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) and copyright holders to seek court orders for websites seen as allowing copyright infringement. After the court order, the U.S. Attorney General could force Internet Service Providers (ISPs) and advertising networks to halt business with the offending site, essentially taking that website off of the accessible Internet.

Immunity would be granted to Internet services that voluntarily act against websites that condone infringement.

Opponents of the bill, of which there are many, claim that this bill violates First Amendment rights and that it is a form of Internet censorship. Johnny O’ Kelly ’12, a major opponent of the bill, thinks the bill is bad legislation.

“I’m a big fan of the Internet and all the freedom it provides, and SOPA is clearly limiting, so I am very against it,” O’ Kelly said. “However, it’s important to realize this bill is mostly just an ‘anchor’ for congress — propose something incredibly awful and restrictive, then propose a less extreme but still damaging bill that has more of a chance of passing.”

The other bill O’ Kelly refers to is PIPA, a similar piece of legislation proposed by the U.S. Senate. While the language is different, the desired effect is largely the same. It would grant the DOJ the right to essentially take a copyright-infringing website off the Internet by removing it from the Domain Name System (DNS), which means that the only way to access that particular website would be through the unique IP address of that site. Additionally, search engines would be forced to remove any link to that website. Copyright holders would be able to file court injunctions against the domain name for financial compensation.

“Wikipedia and Reddit are taking a great step in the right direction to raise awareness — although the Reddit community is already very well informed, Wikipedia has a much larger reach and this will be great to raise awareness,” O’ Kelly said.

Staples’ students primary concern seems to be the availability of Wikipedia on a day when many last-minute facts must be searched for midterm examinations. Fortunately, m.wikipedia.com, the mobile version, will still be available. Additionally, the entire Wikipedia database can be downloaded easily from the website in advance.