Wikipedia, Google to Protest Internet Bills

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales announced plans to shut down the site from 0500 GMT in a message on his Twitter feed. “Student warning! Do your homework early. Wikipedia protesting bad law on Wednesday!” Wales said.

“This is going to be wow. I hope Wikipedia will melt phone systems in Washington on Wednesday. Tell everyone you know!” he said.

Volunteer-staffed Wikipedia turned 11 years old on January 15 and boasts more than 20 million articles in 282 languages. The White House expressed concern about the anti-online piracy bills in a statement over the weekend.

“While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet,” it said.

“Any effort to combat online piracy must guard against the risk of online censorship of lawful activity and must not inhibit innovation by our dynamic businesses large and small,” the White House said.

News Corp. chief executive Rupert Murdoch accused the “blogosphere” meanwhile of “terrorizing many senators and congressmen who previously committed” to support the congressional anti-online piracy legislation. “Politicians all the same,” Murdoch said on his Twitter feed.