Posted on 01/17/2012 3:52:06 AM PST by abb
Do not try to look up "Internet Censorship" or "SOPA" or "PIPA" on Wikipedia, the giant online encyclopedia, on Wednesday.
SOPA and PIPA are two bills in Congress meant to stop the illegal copying and sharing of movies and music on the Internet, but major Internet companies say the bills would put them in the impossible position of policing the online world.
Wikipedia's founder, Jimmy Wales, now says his site will go dark for the day on Wednesday, joining a budding movement to protest the two bills. Google vs. China Watch Video Craigslist Censored? Watch Video China Hackers Stealing U.S. Secrets, Jobs Watch Video
"This is going to be wow," Wales said on Twitter. "I hope Wikipedia will melt phone systems in Washington on Wednesday. Tell everyone you know!"
Other sites, such as Reddit and Boing Boing, have already said they would go dark on Wednesday. And some of the biggest names online, including Google, Facebook, Twitter and Tumblr, have vocally opposed the proposed legislation.
PIPA, the Protect IP Act in the Senate, and SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act, have been presented as a way to protect movie studios, record labels and others. Supporters range from the Country Music Association to the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.
But the Internet giants say the bills could require your Internet provider to block websites that are involved in digital file sharing. And search engines such as Google, Yahoo and Bing could be stopped from linking to them -- antithetical, they say, to the ideal of an open Internet.
"If you want an Internet where human rights, free speech and the rule of law are not subordinated to the entertainment industry's profits, I hope you'll join us," said Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing.
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(Excerpt) Read more at abcnews.go.com ...
You produce IP, it's up to you to capitalize on it before someone else does!
ping
Disabling JavaScript for the sites in question may also help. Works for the Wikipedia, at least.
We survived a million years without the internet. Now ask the nice librarian to help you find out about Bain Capital ...
We want people to trust Wikipedia, not worry that it is trying to propagandize them.
Well, it is and has been doing precisely that. And the sad thing is that we have to side with them now because the alternative is worse. Fine. I've gone on record with my Rep and Senators, and I didn't need a black splotch on Google to tell me to do so. I've found myself in the same foxhole as these guys but I don't have to like it and I don't have to like them because they sure as hell don't like me.
Snotty move. A flash page, would be fine. But a complete blackout annoys, rather than informs people.
Good point.
But could a law such as SOPA most likely in up in a court setting?
Without doubt.
Craigslist Blackout.
Never thought I’d be a Wiki supporter, but good for them.
Maybe back when Senators and Congressmen gave a crap what their people thought. Almost everything Congress has passed for the last decade has been against the will of the people. If Wiki really wanted to make a statement they’d make all their pages that relate at all to Disney redirect to their SOPA page.
Good point, I agree. Google handled it better... they're still functioning as normal today, with a single line (and info link) below their search box:
Tell Congress: Please don't censor the web!
Tell Congress: Please don't censor the web!
Thanks for the ping!
bump to the top
Good point.
This administration or any other, no time is a good time to give the government more power.
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