Wikipedia the biggest online
Encyclopedia in the world, but it is in state of black-out because of
it's opposition to SOPA and PIPA. This is what Wikipeida have to say:
- What exactly is Wikipedia doing?
- Wikipedia
is protesting against SOPA and PIPA by blacking out the English
Wikipedia for 24 hours, beginning at midnight January 18, Eastern Time.
Readers who come to English Wikipedia during the blackout will not be
able to read the encyclopedia: instead, they will see messages intended
to raise awareness about SOPA and PIPA, and encouraging them to share
their views with their elected representatives, and via social media.
- What are SOPA and PIPA?
- SOPA
and PIPA represent two bills in the United States House of
Representatives and the United States Senate respectively. SOPA is short
for the "Stop Online Piracy Act," and PIPA is an acronym for the
"Protect IP Act." ("IP" stands for "intellectual property.") In short,
these bills are efforts to stop copyright infringement committed by
foreign web sites, but, in our opinion, they do so in a way that
actually infringes free expression while harming the Internet. Detailed
information about these bills can be found here and here. You can also follow them through the legislative process here and here. The EFF has summarized why these bills are simply unacceptable in a world that values an open, secure, and free Internet.
- Why is this happening?
- Nothing
like this has ever happened before on the English Wikipedia.
Wikipedians have chosen to black out the English Wikipedia for the first
time ever, because we are concerned that SOPA and PIPA will severely
inhibit people's access to online information. This is not a problem
that will solely affect people in the United States: it will affect
everyone around the world.
- Why?
SOPA and PIPA are badly drafted legislation that won't be effective in
their main goal (to stop copyright infringement), and will cause serious
damage to the free and open Internet. They put the burden on website
owners to police user-contributed material and call for the unnecessary
blocking of entire sites. Small sites won't have sufficient resources to
defend themselves. Big media companies may seek to cut off funding
sources for their foreign competitors, even if copyright isn't being
infringed. Foreign sites will be blacklisted, which means they won't
show up in major search engines. And, SOPA and PIPA build a framework
for future restrictions and suppression.
- Do you care about infringement?
- Yes.
Wikipedians spend thousands of hours every week working tirelessly in
reviewing and removing infringing content. Wikipedia talk pages show
tremendous care about protecting copyright and sophisticated study on
the many nuances of what constitutes infringement as opposed to
legitimate speech. Wikipedia is based on a model of free licenses. Every
Wikipedian is a rights owner, licensing their work under free licenses.
Infringement harms our mission; free licenses do not work with
infringement. Wikipedia has a mission of sharing knowledge around the
world, and that is not possible when the knowledge is tainted with
infringement. So, yes, Wikipedians care deeply about protecting the
rights of others and ensuring against infringement.
- But
this does not mean Wikipedians are willing to trample on free
expression like SOPA and PIPA. The proposed legislation seeks to take
down sites entirely, because courts and others simply don't have time to
worry about the nuances of copyright law and free expression. That is
what is troubling. When the remedies are bludgeons, when entire sites
are taken down, when everyone assumes that all content is infringing
because some is, we lose something important. We lose the nuances of
copyright about which our community cares, we lose our values based on
protecting free speech, we lose what we represent. The Internet cannot
turn into a world where free expression is ignored to accomodate overly
simple solutions that gratify powerful rightowners who spend lots of
money to promote the regulation of expression. There are better ways,
like the Digital Millennium Copyright Act,
to find the right approach to legitimate copyright enforcement without
trampling on free expression. SOPA and PIPA don't represent these
values, and for that reason we ask you to oppose these bills.
- Isn't
SOPA dead? Wasn't the bill shelved, and didn't the White House declare
that it won't sign anything that resembles the current bill?
- No,
neither SOPA nor PIPA are dead. On January 17th, SOPA's sponsor said
the bill will be discussed in early February. There are signs PIPA may
be debated on the Senate floor next week. Moreover, SOPA and PIPA are
just indicators of a much broader problem. We are already seeing big
media calling us names. In many jurisdictions around the world, we're
seeing the development of legislation that prioritizes overly-broad
copyright enforcement laws, laws promoted by power players, over the
preservation of individual civil liberties. We want the Internet to be
free and open, everywhere, for everyone.
- Aren’t SOPA/PIPA as they stand not even really a threat to Wikipedia? Won't the DNS provisions be removed?
- SOPA
and PIPA are still alive, and they’re still a threat to the free and
open web, which means they are a threat to Wikipedia. For example, in
its current form, SOPA would require U.S. sites to take on the heavy
burden of actively policing third-party links for infringing content.
And even with the DNS provisions removed, the bill would give the U.S.
government extraordinary, ambiguous, and loosely-defined powers to take
control over content and information on the free web. Taking one bad
provision out doesn't make the bills okay, and regardless, Internet
experts agree they won't even be effective in their main goal: halting
copyright infringement. The Electronic Frontier Foundation has
published a really great post about some of the more dangerous SOPA and PIPA provisions.
- What can users outside of the U.S. do to support this effort?
- Readers
who don't live in the United States can contact their local State
Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or similar branch of
government. Tell them that you oppose the draft U.S. SOPA and PIPA
legislation, and all similar legislation. SOPA and PIPA will have a
global effect - websites outside of the U.S. would be impacted by
legislation that hurts the free and open web. And, other jurisdictions
are grappling with similar issues, and may choose paths similar to SOPA
and PIPA.
- Is it still possible to access Wikipedia in any way?
- The
Wikipedia community, as part of their request to the Wikimedia
Foundation to carry out this protest, asked us to ensure that we make
English Wikipedia accessible in some way during an emergency. The
English Wikipedia will be accessible on mobile devices and smart phones.
You can also view Wikipedia normally by completely disabling JavaScript
in your browser, as explained on this Technical FAQ page.
- I keep hearing that this is a fight between Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Is that true?
- No.
Some people are characterizing it that way, probably in an effort to
imply all the participants are motivated by commercial self-interest.
But you can know it's not that simple, because Wikipedia has no
financial self-interest here: we are not trying to monetize your
eyeballs or sell you products. We are protesting to raise awareness
about SOPA and PIPA solely because we think they will hurt the Internet,
and your ability to access information. We are doing this for you.
- In carrying out this protest, is Wikipedia abandoning neutrality?
- We
hope you continue to trust Wikipedia to be a neutral informational
resource. We are staging this blackout because, although Wikipedia’s
articles are neutral, its existence actually is not. For over a decade,
Wikipedians have spent millions of hours building the largest
encyclopedia in human history. Wikipedia's existence depends on a free,
open and uncensored Internet. We are shutting Wikipedia down for you,
our readers. We support your right to freedom of thought and freedom of
expression. We think everyone should have access to educational material
on a wide range of subjects, even if they can’t pay for it. We believe
people should be able to share information without impediment. We
believe that new proposed laws like SOPA and PIPA (and other similar
laws under discussion inside and outside the United States) don’t
advance the interests of the general public. That's why we're doing
this.
SO Wikipedia's concern is completely genuine because if these Act's are
passed it will be death for Wikipedia and a whole industry (including my
blog!)
To Access Wikipedia you can either
disable Javascript
according to Wikipedia or the simple way is to Use Google Caches. In
that you search the Google for the Wikipedia article
and instead of clicking on the link click on the "Caches" .
But Do not worry Wikipedia will be back soon if SOPA and PIPA dont get passed ;)
