Kids across the country may face a slight challenge in completing their homework assignments today – Wikipedia, the first-stop for many a novice researcher, is undergoing a 24-hour blackout in protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA), two pieces of legislation being debated by Congress.

Anyone who hasn’t been following the SOPA/PIPA drama of recent weeks may be wondering what the big deal is – why are so many people up in arms about these bills?

SOPA and PIPA are intended to crack down on copyright infringement, primarily committed by foreign-based websites which are currently outside the legal reach of American companies. In other words, the bills are supposed to stop people in other countries from pirating American music, movies, etc. Based on this broad goal, both bills received bipartisan support – after all, who isn’t against piracy? Continue reading →