As far as I can tell, they're not telling anyone to deface sites - they are saying that you should black out your sites, and encourage others to do the same.

Wikipedia was/is considering doing something similar.

I may have misread the statement. I read the statement, addressed in part to "Hacktivists", reading:

> Replace the front page of every website we can with a simple, clear protest page.

Given past operating procedure, that seems like a call to action to deface every site you can get access to. If it's not, then I rescind my original comment.

I think the point is to generate more of a self-sposored focus of passive resistance; they're not the people threatening to pull sites offline in response to an anonymous report of a copyright violation. In fact, they really don't have the power to pull sites offline; neither does the USDOJ, but in the balance of things, only the latter has the power to cause real financial damage.