Sent to you by tony via Google Reader: Why is Wikipedia Down? via mental_floss by Chris Higgins on 1/18/12 If you're in the US and you visit Wikipedia today , you'll see a glimpse of the page you were trying to access, then you'll see the blackout message above. You'll see similar messages from Google , Reddit , and others. Why? Although each of these sites does a good job of explaining its position, here's a rundown of the issues involved in today's shutdown. An Extremely Brief History Lesson In 1998, the US Congress passed the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a bill that, among other things, created a simple system by which copyright owners could request that infringing content be removed from websites hosted in the US. In short, the copyright owner tells the website, "I own this video/photo/song and you have to remove it, or I'll sue you." Then it gets removed, or they go to court. Have you ever seen a YouTube vi...