Community news sharing site Reddit has announced via a blog post they will be instituting a site wide black out for 12 hours in protest of SOPA and PIPA.

The blackout will occur on Jan 18th, from 8am to 8pm EST to coincide with a Congressional Hearing scheduled by SOPA opponent Rep Darrell Issa to allow the technology community an opportunity to speak on the record about the bill and voice their concerns, somethings  SOPA’s sponsor Lamar Smith has been attempting to avoid.  Reddit co-founder, Alexis Ohanian is scheduled to testify at the hearing. Other major sites are reportedly considering joining Reddit as a show of solidarity, including Wikipedia, Google and Facebook, though no plans to do so have been officially announced.

“The freedom, innovation, and economic opportunity that the Internet enables is in jeopardy. Congress is considering legislation that will dramatically change your Internet experience and put an end to reddit and many other sites you use everyday.”

Reddit has been some of the most vocal opponents of SOPA and PIPA, most notably successfully calling for a boycott of GoDaddythat resulted in the company reversing it’s position on the bills it helped author.

Hopefully Reddit will jump on board fighting  for the PRO-IP act to be repealed once SOPA and PIPA are effectively killed.  We’ll try to live stream the hearing from the site, or at least provide a link to where you can watch it.