# Wikipedia shutting down for 24 hours on January 18.

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wikipedia-shutting-down-for-24-hours-on-january-18/609765>\
**Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\
**Created:** [January 17, 2012, 3:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wikipedia-shutting-down-for-24-hours-on-january-18/609765 "2012-01-17T03:29:11Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 2\
**Page:** 5

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**Author:** ![Musicat](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/musicat/32/20189_2.png) [@Musicat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Musicat)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 10:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wikipedia-shutting-down-for-24-hours-on-january-18/609765/81 "2012-01-18T22:53:49Z")

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> [@Sam\_Lowry](#):
>
> I might be missing something, but that seems to be how it would work. Wikipedia then would be crippled, because it’s difficult enough to keep up with what people are posting directly to Wikipedia; it’d be basically impossible to keep up with what people are linking to on Wikipedia.

That matches what I have read. And the request to remove or disable material is all it takes; no judge, jury or court case is needed, just an accusation. So he with the deepest pockets wins.

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**Author:** ![leahcim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/b4bc9f/32.png) [@leahcim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/leahcim)\
**Post date:** [January 18, 2012, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/wikipedia-shutting-down-for-24-hours-on-january-18/609765/82 "2012-01-18T23:23:55Z")

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> [@Musicat](#):
>
> And the request to remove or disable material is all it takes; no judge, jury or court case is needed, just an accusation. So he with the deepest pockets wins.

This is what I understand, too (except I think some judicial review is required, but not one the owner of the website gets to attend). Basically it transitions from, “I think someone is breaking my copyright, lets take him to court” to “I think someone is breaking my copyright, take his site down and he can take me to court to get it back up”.

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