Monopoly is bad even if it is a good nonprofit organization

I have been a regular user of Wikipedia not long after its inception in 2001, and made my share of contribution in editing and financial support.  Wikipedia has become a de facto monopoly of online encyclopedia.  No other online encyclopedias are even remotely close to Wikipedia in terms of popularity.  It is a default online knowledge source for many people.

Now, Wikipedia is at a position to take sides on controversial issues without worrying about losing its monopoly.  It has decided to shut down its English version for one day on 2012-01-18 to protest SOPA and PIPA.  The founder of Wikipedia Jimmy Wales initiated the protest on Wikipedia, and easily galvanized the support.

The US alone loses $50 billion - $100 billion every year to IP piracy in software, movies, music, etc.  Some estimate the loss is over $100 billion.  For example, Microsoft loses 95% of its potential revenue in China where IP piracy is vibrant. IP piracy is a theft.  SOPA is designed to fight foreign websites selling pirated products outright.  This battle is badly needed for fairness and justice.  I am not a legal expert, and do not know if SOPA is far from perfect.  However, I strongly believe it is a move in the right direction.  Opposition, or even strong opposition to SOPA  can be justified if a better alternative of waging the battle is proposed.  Unfortunately, I have never seen a serious alternative. Many opponents fight SOPA for self-serving purposes. For example, Google and Facebook will lose revenues associated with IP thieves if SOPA is passed. The major argument against SOPA is fearing its leading to the expansion of internet censorship. This concern is well justified.  People should maintain the concern to guard against any infringement on free speech by the government, but this should not prevent actions against bad components of the society.  Any authority granted to the government can be potentially abused.  If we were to prevent such potential harm absolutely, we would need to eliminate the police, the CIA, the FBI, the FDA, all the military forces, etc.  All of these government branches have the potential to abuse their power. Indeed, they have abused their power many times.  However, after all, is it good to have them?  I think the answer is obvious to most people.

Wikipedia has a unique good position to lead the battle against IP piracy.  It is a nonprofit, and has a large volunteer army.  It could have a discussion on how to fight IP theft, and I am sure, many good ideas would arise from such a discussion, and these ideas can be appealing alternatives to SOPA.