A world without Wiki?

Can you imagine a world without every student’s favourite reference site, Wikipedia? On the 18^th of January such a world became a reality as the largest online encyclopaedia, which has taken over a decade to build, blacked out its website for a day in protest of legislation proposed by US Congress which might put the future of websites such as Wikipedia, Facebook and Google at serious risk. The bill, if passed, would enable officials to prevent access to websites which contain pirated material. Wikipedia have commented saying that the The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) “will severely inhibit people's access to online information. This is not a problem that will solely affect people in the United States: it will affect everyone around the world”, and therefore they are hoping to encourage users to share their views with through social media and other mediums. Despite many websites being monitored for copyright infringements, it is possible that some of the millions of pages published every day go undetected. However, if this is detected by officials, the entire site will be shut down, not just the specific page. The bill even extends to cover links to pages which are associated with piracy. There are many signs that protests like these are working; last weekend, Senator Cardin, who cosponsored the legislation, announced he will vote against it along with President Obama. The cause has now reached a tipping point, but with Wikipedia leading the protest, the issue has been thrust into the public interest and the reaction has been overwhelming.