Wikiout! English Wikipedia anti-SOPA blackout looms

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Published time: January 17, 2012 08:30
Edited time: January 17, 2012 17:58

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Internet, Piracy, Protest, USA

The world’s most popular online encyclopedia, Wikipedia, is going on strike on Wednesday. The “knowledge blackout” is aimed at protecting the Internet - and the website’s very existence – from online censorship.

The Wikipedia community and the Wikimedia foundation decided on a global blackout of the English version of the website for 24 hours starting at 05:00 UTC on January 18. The move followed a heated discussion which attracted the highest number of participants in the project’s 11-year history.

The blackout of one of the Internet’s most-visited places is meant to stop SOPA and PIPA, two controversial anti-piracy bills currently on the table in the US Congress. The bills, if they pass into law, would greatly increase the powers of law enforcement agencies and copyright holders to prosecute online infringement.

The bills would cripple the Internet, effectively killing all websites allowing user-uploaded content, endangering potential whistleblowers and severely damaging online freedom of speech, say its numerous opponents. Those include Internet giants Google, Yahoo, Facebook, AOL, Mozilla Corporation, and the human rights organizations Reporters Without Borders, Human Rights Watch and the ACLU, as well as journalists, lawyers and many others.

Supporters – mainly entertainment industry companies – say the legislation is necessary to combat online crimes.

Wikipedians hope the knowledge blackout will greatly raise public awareness of the threat and put pressure on legislators. The only pages which will be available to users during the action are those related to SOPA, PIPA and the protest.

The community was split roughly in half over whether the blackout should be limited to the US or go global. The latter point of view finally prevailed. “American law is America's business, but law that affects Wikipedia worldwide is an issue of worldwide interest,” one of the editors argued.

The protest move was inspired by a similar action in Italy in October 2011, where local Wikipedia went down for three days in a protest against a bill submitted to the country’s parliament.

Comments (11)

Nenad 18.01.2012 16:33

Theese co called laws have nothing in common with copyright infrigment but US tries to control the free flow of information introducing the full censorship on any content that compromises their rule. I'm not quite sure if US can turn off the servers around the world like they say also they would try.

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John Ellis 18.01.2012 02:54

Brains and talents are a free gift from nature --- Only an ingrate expects a reward “The law would greatly increase the powers of law enforcement
agencies and copyright holders to prosecute online infringement.” LIGHT
Its the same fake argument Obama used when he tried to tell the public that the Wall Street executives deserved multimillion dollar bonus, their genius intellect creating new inventions in high finance would save America from bankruptcy, their big bonus rewards will secure their loyalty --- otherwise surely they will all hop the next jetliner headed for London. Problem is, knowledge like matter can neither be created nor destroyed, and to claim ownership just because you claim to be the first one to discover it, surely this is akin to being the first one to see the rays of a new day and then claim the right to be King for a day. And even though I have a reputation for hand planting seedling pine with a survival rate second to none, a perfectionist of no importance that I be, when in my 31 years of back-bending have I ever expected a reward or had one offered?

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Aneova (unregistered) 17.01.2012 23:47

Tis a shame that no paper encyclopedia could keep up with the vast amount of information that gets published on a regular basis online. Though I do still have my copies of the Encyclopedia Britannica from when I was a wee little lad, it's mostly for my fond memories of thumbing through the pages.

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