Wikipedia plans to block out its English-language website for 24 hours starting midnight Eastern Standard Time on Wednesday. The goal is to raise support to fight proposed anti-piracy legislation in the U.S., that its founder believes will threaten the future of the internet.<br/> Mashable's Editor in Chief Lance Ulanoff:<br/> SOUNDBITE: LANCE ULANOFF, EDITOR IN CHIEF OF MASHABLE, (ENGLISH) SAYING:<br/> "The way these laws were written is truly draconian measures. They can do virtually anything they want if they happen to notice that a website has used copyrighted content. They can block the site. They can block it from the internet."<br/> U.S. Wikipedia visitors will only see information about the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act.<br/> It's not alone in its protest- Google and other Internet companies like Yahoo, Facebook, Twitter and Ebay have all run ads urging lawmakers to rethink their approach.<br/> The goal of the legislation is to crack down on online sales of copyrighted material like movies- but it's not that simple.<br/> SOUNDBITE: LANCE ULANOFF, EDITOR IN CHIEF OF MASHABLE, (ENGLISH) SAYING:<br/> "When you look at movie companies fighting vast piracy, really around the world, of their content, and they are trying to stop them and some of their transport mechanism for that is the internet. But then you have somebody who is quoting someone else online, is that piracy? Where do you draw the line between a quote and a pirate act?"<br/> Last weekend, White House officials raised their concerns, saying they believe it could make doing business on the internet vulnerable to litigation and could harm free speech.<br/> Bobbi Rebell, Reuters
