One week from today, on Jan. 18, 35 million Internet users across the globe will be forced into productivity.

Social news site Reddit, a vocal advocate of online free speech, announced in a blog post that they will blackout next Wednesday in protest of the Internet censorship bills Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect IP Act (PIPA).

The blackout, which will last from 8 a.m. until 8 p.m., coincides with House hearings on the legislation, at which tech leaders, including Reddit co-founder Alexis Ohanian, will attempt to educate a largely out-of-touch Congress on the dangers of blindly regulating the Internet.

Reddit plans to keep the protest simple; instead of the usual user-submitted chaos, visitors will be greeted with a splash page containing a simple statement regarding the two bills and their potential effect on the web.

In addition to Reddit’s take on the legislation, links will be provided to local community meet-ups engaging SOPA and PIPA, contact info for representatives in support of the bills and a livestream of the house hearings.

SOPA and PIPA represent a fundamental misunderstanding of the Internet and, really, the tech industry as a whole. If passed, each bill would grant the US Department of Justice and copyright holders (e.g. Time Warner, Sony, EMI) power to acquire court orders against any website hosting infringing content, even if the site’s administration is oblivious to said posting.

This makes sites that rely on user-submitted content, such as Reddit, YouTube or Facebook, susceptible to lawful — but certainly not justified — take downs. If the site isn’t completely taken down, it can still have access to advertisers blocked, or results from search engines omitted, both huge factors in regards to web business.

Once again, Reddit stands at the forefront in the battle against Congressional attempts to censor the Internet. Last month, Reddit user selfprodigy ignited the “Transfer your GoDaddy Domain” movement in an effort to force the popular web hosting service to publicly reverse its support for SOPA. The protest was met with reasonable success, inspiring a few big-name clients to abandon the domain provider.

And while the social news site’s blackout is a respectable start to the fight, it can be perceived as a “preaching to the choir” situation. Although the blackout will reach millions of viewers, many of Reddit's readers are already in ardent opposition to Internet censorship and may see the blackout as more of an annoyance.

Many agree that real progress won’t be made until Internet giants like Facebook and Google follow suit with their own “nuclear option” and completely blackout. Not only would this put hundreds of millions of eyes on the issue, but it would force mainstream media outlets to cover the two bills in-depth, which hasn’t been a priority considering many top media companies are apart of larger conglomerates that support the legislation.

(Forbes reports that Wikipedia is also mulling over a coinciding blackout, which might be more feasible for a non-profit and could draw massive attention to the issue.)

Maybe Reddit’s blackout won’t stop SOPA or PIPA, but it is a bold step in the right direction. The community is filled with passionate users with strong convictions and is run by admins determined to support those convictions: A dangerous combination for those who support the legislation, and an inspiration to those who stand in staunch opposition. Hopefully the move is inspiring enough to move the less vocal to action.