Connect with us

Hi, what are you looking for?

Web

Wikipedia Threatens Site Closure

Wikipedia co-founder Jimmy Wales has threatened a ‘strike’ which would black out the English-language site as a protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act. If the anti-piracy bill currently under discussion in the United States, is passed, critics allege it means sites/blogs such as Wikipedia, where users are free to publish what they want could be penalised. The most controversial provisions of SOPA would force websites that carry user-generated material to impose new restrictions or constantly monitor activity, it’s claimed. However, supporters of the Bill argue it will protect copyright holders from pirate websites that circumvent existing laws, such as unlicensed film streaming services based overseas.

Writing on his private Wikipedia blog, Wales said, ‘A few months ago, the Italian Wikipedia community made a decision to blank all of Italian Wikipedia for a short period in order to protest a law which would infringe on their editorial independence. The Italian Parliament backed down immediately. As Wikipedians may or may not be aware, a much worse law going under the misleading title of “Stop Online Piracy Act’ is working its way through Congress on a bit of a fast track. I may be attending a meeting at the White House on Monday (pending confirmation on a couple of fronts) along with executives from many other top Internet firms, and I thought this would be a good time to take a quick reading of the community feeling on this issue. My own view is that a community strike was very powerful and successful in Italy and could be even more powerful in this case.’

Written By

Thanks for reading this article. If you're new here, why don't you subscribe for regular updates via RSS feed or via email. You can also subscribe by following @techsling on Twitter or becoming our fan on Facebook. Thanks for visiting!

4 Comments

4 Comments

  1. TracyAnn0312

    December 14, 2011 at 12:30 pm

    Bad news for people that loves to search at wikipedia. Hopefully the problem will be resolved as soon as possible. Hope that the closure will not going to happen!

  2. Danny

    December 14, 2011 at 1:02 pm

    I wonder if it will have any effect. It seems like there are some strong players backing this bill.
    Of course I support wikipedia and I respect that they at least try to do something.

  3. khuf

    December 14, 2011 at 3:32 pm

    I hope wikipedia doesn’t suspend operations

  4. Kahn

    December 18, 2011 at 5:39 am

    I find this bill frightening. I love that Wikipedia is willing to stand up for what they believe.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

You May Also Like

Travel

Are you trying to decide where you should go on vacation this summer, but it seems impossible to actually make up your mind? We...

Digital Marketing

The toughest task for a marketer is to look for the places where they can not only implement their marketing strategies but also get...

Business

India, Indonesia, Ukraine, Lithuania and China have at least one common feature that unites them. This feature is not location or people, but their...

Web

While the US and the EU may enjoy good international relations, there are some notable differences in privacy laws between the two superpowers.  To...