WiKiPedia to shut down for 24 hrs to protest SOPA

dashing.sujay

dashing.sujay

Moving
Staff member
*timesofindia.indiatimes.com/tech/news/internet/wikipedia-to-shut-down-for-24-hours/wiki-jpg/thumb/11517771/wiki-jpg.jpg



Wikipedia, the popular community-edited online encyclopedia, will black out its English-language site for 24 hours to seek support against proposed U.S. anti-piracy legislation that Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said threatens the future of the Internet.

The U.S. service will be the highest profile name to join a growing campaign starting at midnight Eastern Time on Wednesday that will see it black out its page so that visitors will only see information about the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act.

The information will urge Wikipedia readers to contact their local congressman to vote against the bills. Other smaller sites leading the campaign include Reddit.com and Cheezeburger.

"This is a quite clumsily drafted legislation which is dangerous for an open Internet," said Wales in an interview.

The decision to black out the site was decided by voting within the Wikipedia community of writers and editors who manage the free service, Wales said. The English language Wikipedia receives more than 25 million average daily visitors from around the world, according to comScore data.

The bills pit technology companies like Google Inc (GOOG.O) and Facebook against the bill's supporters, including Hollywood studios and music labels, which say the legislation is needed to protect intellectual property and jobs.

The SOPA legislation under consideration in the House of Representatives aims to crack down on online sales of pirated American movies, music or other goods by forcing Internet companies to block access to foreign sites offering material that violates U.S. copyright laws. Supporters argue the bill is unlikely to have an impact on U.S.-based websites.

U.S. advertising networks could also be required to stop online ads, and search engines would be barred from directly linking to websites found to be distributing pirated goods.

Google has repeatedly said the bill goes too far and could hurt investment. Along with other Internet companies such as Yahoo (YHOO.O), Facebook, Twitter and eBay (EBAY.O), it has run advertisements in major newspapers urging Washington lawmakers to rethink their approach.

White House officials raised concerns on Saturday about SOPA saying they believe it could make businesses on the Internet vulnerable to litigation and harm legal activity and free speech.

"We're happy to see opposition is building and that the White House has started to pay attention," said Wales.

News of the White House's comments prompted a prominent supporter of the bill News Corp (NWSA.O) Chief Executive Rupert Murdoch to slam the Obama administration.

"So Obama has thrown in his lot with Silicon Valley paymasters who threaten all software creators with piracy, plain thievery," he posted on his personal Twitter account Saturday. News Corp owns a vast array of media properties from Fox TV, the Wall Street Journal to Twentieth Century Fox studios.

Wales said the bill in its current form was too broad and could make it difficult for a site like Wikipedia, which he said relies on open exchange of information. He said the bill also places the burden of proof on the distributor of content in the case of any dispute over copyright ownership.

"I do think copyright holders have legitimate issues, but there are ways of approaching the issue that don't involve censorship," Wales said.
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Source
 
R

RahulB

Journeyman
SOPA Sucks.... Hope these lawmakers rot in garbage....

Good idea: Google should do something like Wikipedia...
Turn out ... many SOPA supporters inside Congress are actually pirates..
 
Ronnie11

Ronnie11

Judgement Time!!
have heard a lot about sopa..but no idea what the bill actually is..can anyone enlighten me as to y there is so much protest about it???
 
Krow

Krow

Crowman
Ronnie11 said:
have heard a lot about sopa..but no idea what the bill actually is..can anyone enlighten me as to y there is so much protest about it???
Click to expand...

Ronnie, when there is a thread on SOPA in this very section, why would you ask this question here? Please search before you post.

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/technology-news/150426-sopa-death-internet-we-know.html

The blackout will harm users, no?
 
Liverpool_fan

Liverpool_fan

Sami Hyypiä, LFC legend
Ronnie11 said:
have heard a lot about sopa..but no idea what the bill actually is..can anyone enlighten me as to y there is so much protest about it???
Click to expand...
[YOUTUBE]hLYgs0xMDm0[/YOUTUBE]
What is SOPA and how does it work? The Stop Online Piracy Act explained | The Verge

Krow said:
The blackout will harm users, no?
Click to expand...
Far less harm than a permanent ban on the sites in question for one infringing link. Yes the bill is THAT moronic.
 
Ronnie11

Ronnie11

Judgement Time!!
Krow said:
Ronnie, when there is a thread on SOPA in this very section, why would you ask this question here? Please search before you post.

*www.thinkdigit.com/forum/technology-news/150426-sopa-death-internet-we-know.html

The blackout will harm users, no?
Click to expand...

my apologies...finding it hard to search around with low internet speeds here..did read a bit of it on wiki but couldn't make much sense of it...i apologise..

Liverpool_fan said:
[YOUTUBE]hLYgs0xMDm0[/YOUTUBE]
What is SOPA and how does it work? The Stop Online Piracy Act explained | The Verge


Far less harm than a permanent ban on the sites in question for one infringing link. Yes the bill is THAT moronic.
Click to expand...

Thank you for the info..much appreciated...
 
Krow

Krow

Crowman
No issues mate, even I didn't know you have slow internet problems. Next time, please take a look if possible.
 
F

ferris

Right off the assembly line
Very good decision by Wikipedia.

Hopefully lots of people wondering why Wikipedia isn't displayed tomorrow will actually read the information provided about SOPA and pressure their lawmakers about it.
 
Krow

Krow

Crowman
I still don't get how a blackout will help to be honest. They could achieve the same effect by a banner ad.
 
Liverpool_fan

Liverpool_fan

Sami Hyypiä, LFC legend
Krow said:
I still don't get how a blackout will help to be honest. They could achieve the same effect by a banner ad.
Click to expand...

ferris said:
Very good decision by Wikipedia.
Hopefully lots of people wondering why Wikipedia isn't displayed tomorrow will actually read the information provided about SOPA and pressure their lawmakers about it.
Click to expand...
:p

A banner can NEVER have that effect.
 
A

arnab.d287

Still A Student!!!
The best thing is I dont have to submit my project in these two days.. Or else without Wikipedia I would have only my name in it and nothing else
 
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