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 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 (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA).
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 [GOOG 624.99 -4.65 (-0.74%) ] 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, Facebook, Twitter and eBay [EBAY 30.62 -0.96 (-3.04%) ] 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 18.61 -0.28 (-1.48%) ] 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
I almost cut my hair, it happened just the other day.
It was gettin' kinda long, I could've said it was in my way.
But I didn't and I wonder why, I feel like letting my freak flag fly
the lawyers will love this bill cuz they'll earn more fees for bringing lawsuits against users. They become the pirates looking to plunder the unsuspecting.
Life is best experienced in the company of a woman.
Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich stärker
I'm not here for a long time I'm here for a good time.
Google has already increased censorship bigtime.
I'm going to have to find a new search engine.
Hopefully we will be able to pay extra and get uncensored internet. That's probably part of the plan.
I almost cut my hair, it happened just the other day.
It was gettin' kinda long, I could've said it was in my way.
But I didn't and I wonder why, I feel like letting my freak flag fly
Google is censoring?
Life is best experienced in the company of a woman.
Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich stärker
I'm not here for a long time I'm here for a good time.
We are too immature to see reality. The internet is going to be whitewashed for us like the TV.
I almost cut my hair, it happened just the other day.
It was gettin' kinda long, I could've said it was in my way.
But I didn't and I wonder why, I feel like letting my freak flag fly
Google has always been censored but lately it is really noticeable that many sites are filtered out.
I'm glad they filter out stuff like child porn but when I want to learn how to grow pot or how to make poppy tea I would prefer to just use google. Maybe that's asking too much. I will be able to find underground search engines to find what I need. I'll have to filter out the child porn myself tho. I'm an adult so I will survive.
Soon you won't be able to find sites that show how to hotrod your vehicle.
Last edited by arthureld; 01-17-2012 at 02:13 PM.
I almost cut my hair, it happened just the other day.
It was gettin' kinda long, I could've said it was in my way.
But I didn't and I wonder why, I feel like letting my freak flag fly
I don't understand the legislation and I really don't understand why the government seems so hell bent on protecting me from myself.
Let it be free and ban the lawyers
.-/c-.,_ /
(_)'==(_)
"parts left out cost nothing and create no service problems" Boss Kettering
welcome to the information highway Haaaaaaaaaaaaa!
Bucket list are for Sissie, men do it while they can enjoy it
Originally Posted by RacingOrangeRoadster
The government is so busy protecting you from yourself that they are oblivious to the real threats. Out government agencies had intel on the 9/11 attacks prior to 9/11 and they ignored it.
Our government has become a bloated institution that has ceased serving the people and has the people serving the government. How long will you have to work to afford the taxes to keep the government from going bankrupt??
The Native Americans were right. You can't trust Washington.
Life is best experienced in the company of a woman.
Was mich nicht umbringt, macht mich stärker
I'm not here for a long time I'm here for a good time.
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