Wikipedia’s day of darkness foiled by mobile users and alternative addresses

Internet encyclopedia Wikipedia is offline for 24 hours today in protest against a forthcoming bill in the US Senate designed to stop online piracy.

However, the “day of darkness” has been ridiculed by some who have found access to Wikipedia easily through their mobile phones or through alternative addresses like Wikipedia.fr, the French version of the site.

The user-generated encyclopedia simply displays a black screen with the words ‘Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge’ and a short paragraph about the protest when users try to access an article.

Wikipedia joins social news site Reddit and popular blog Boing Boing in the protest against the ‘Stop Online Piracy Act’ currently being considered by the US Senate.

Wikipedia states on its website: “For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history.

“Right now, the US Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia.”