Today, January 28, Wikipedia will go dark as a protest against the Stop Online Piracy and PROTECT IP Acts being debated in Congress. Other sites, like Google, The Washington Post, NPR, and Guardian will also be partaking in semi-blackouts on Wednesday. Both bills aim to limit the illegal copying and downloading of movies and music via the Internet. SOPA and PIPA claim to protect the intellectual property of individuals.

Together, the acts aim to thwart sites who’s main aim is to infringe the copyrights of others. The potential effectiveness of these efforts, however, is very low since there is abundant demand for cheap entertainment via the Internet.

While the Wikipedia blackout will pose a threat to students scrambling to finish homework on Wednesday, there are much larger implications for the bill. Critics of the acts feat that, if passed, they could lead to extreme censorship of the Internet. Critics also feat that as some avenues of piracy are shut down, others will arise that are more difficult to monitor and block