Sign in. It’s quick, free and it’s up to you.
An account is an optional way to support the work we do. Find out more.
WIKIPEDIA IS AMONG a number of websites taking part in an internet blackout today in protest at proposed anti-piracy laws in the US.
The online encyclopedia redirects to a black screen with a political statement when you carry out a search but mobile versions of the site continue to work. The user-generated news site Reddit and the blog Boing Boing are also among the more high profile sites taking part in the blackout.
However, other popular websites like Facebook and Twitter are not taking part in the 24-hour blackout which runs until 5am tomorrow morning (GMT).
Websites and activists are opposed to the US Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA) both currently being debated in the US Congress. The laws propose to shut down websites accused of containing illegal films, music and TV programming. Read more here >
Supporters of the legislation argue that it is designed to stop revenue flowing to “rogue websites” which link to pirated material but those against it argue the legislation is poorly drafted and will damage the openness of the internet.
“The point is the bill is so over broad and so badly written that it’s going to impact all kinds of things that, you know, don’t have anything to do with stopping piracy,” Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales told the BBC.
Although some of the websites editors are uneasy about the legislation, AP reports, likening the Wikipedia decision to fight censorship with censorship.
“My main concern is that it puts the organisation in the role of advocacy, and that’s a slippery slope,” said editor Robert Lawton, a Michigan computer consultant. “Before we know it, we’re blacked out because we want to save the whales.”
Twitter chief executive Dick Costolo described the decision of some websites to shutdown as “foolish”. ”Closing a global business in reaction to single-issue national politics is foolish,” he tweeted on Monday.
Some are in solidarity with those who are shutting down while not shutting down themselves including the world’s most popular search engine Google which carries a link which reads “Please don’t censor the web!” on its homepage.
“Millions of Americans oppose SOPA and PIPA because these bills would censor the Internet and slow economic growth in the US,” the linked to page reads as the company urges Congress to “End Piracy, Not Liberty”.
The White House has raised concerns about the bills going through the House of Representatives and the Senate. While the administration has pledged to battle piracy and counterfeiting, it is defending free expression, privacy and innovation on the internet.
The administration signalled it might use its veto power, if necessary meaning the two bills are unlikely to become legislation in their present form, AP reports.
To embed this post, copy the code below on your site
Corporate money in US Politics – that’s all this is !!
Yesterday would have been perfect timing for lecturers around the world to give assignments that are due tomorrow.
If there were good alternatives (Netflix etc.) people wouldn’t need to pirate. They are using dinosaur business models and are refusing to accept change.
a core group will never pay even a fair price by easy methods. All that can be done is to load internet access prices globally to subsidise that, unfair yes but basically the same as uninsured car is loadedon the rest. Piracy would continue even if the entire internet shutdown, people would find a way using dvds or usb etc. I agree dinosaur selling and distribution methods from companies need to change but it will only make a small dent realistically.
Netflix is a good idea, but the content is not what you would call up to date, its like gold fm, for the eyes.
With wikipedia if you press escape before the page finishes loading it doesn’t redirect. Also you can disable javascript and it wont redirect.
sweet mike…!!! cheers for that tip…works great..
I think Mike has proved the point “Where there’s a will, there’s a way”. It highlights how futile the proposed measures will be to fight piracy. As soon as they are implemented you will have clever, IT savvy people telling the rest of us how to circumvent them.
That would explain why opening wikipedia on the iPhone worked just fine. I agree with the point above – people will find ways around the proposed bill, ya just need someone to point you in the right direction
He’s simply saying that life, uh… finds a way. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkWeMvrNiOM
By posting this video on theJournal, the copyright holders of this film would have you believe that I, the journal and all of you are thieves. Under an act like SOPA the website could be taken down without warning or a fair trial.
If copyright law was updated long ago we’d all be in a better place.
shall we be seeing a return to the suitcase toting bootlegger with wares for sale on O’Connell bridge??
Blacking out these sites is akin to putting your head in the ground hoping a problem will go away. These bills will come into force in some shape or form eventually. The days of file sharing and illegal downloads are numbered.
completely disagree. file sharing is here to stay in some shape or form as it is so easy and popular, and has often been necessary due to feet dragging of copyright owners. what we really need 8s updating of copyright laws and for copyright owners to innovate so that illegal file sharing becomes a distant second choice for consumers
It’s the shape and form that is the issue. I like the blackout idea. It will make sure the subject is well reported.
Unless you completely take away the ability for computers’ to connect peer2peer, you can’t stop people sharing whatever they want. I highly doubt we’ll see p2p disappear. So anything that is done to stop piracy, such as block sites, sue pirates etc. is a mere inconvenience for piracy. There’s always new sites, ways to find torrents, news groups and new ways to encrypt your Internet traffic.
SOPA, or any such bill is not going to stop piracy. It will just breach liberty and set the scene for all sorts of add on bills to block sites at will. Think a particular political philosophy will upset how your government, or more importantly, how your big corporations run? Block it. Don’t like people promoting civil protests (occupy as example). Block all their web sites. Any bill to block any site is just a stepping stone that can lead to the Internet becoming what the old corporations wanted: controlled media, just like tv.
They can’t stop file shaving Melissa, its too large and far too widespread at this stage. theb only way they could stamp it out is to effectively shut down the internet.
Between usenet, bittorrent, other P2P, ftp and file shaving sites like rapidshare there’s too many different ways that are used to stop file sharing overall. Much of the traffic is also encrypted now so they can’t even see what is being transmitted.
Those that say it can be stopped or its day are numbered are either trying to sell a product (something they claim can help stop file sharing like sandvine), work in the industry or are just clueless technology wise.
Piracy will continue regardless, it’ll probably just become more underground like it was in the mid to late 90s when the internet was a much smaller place. Back then before p2p and before kazaa and napster, people transferred files by personal ftp off their desktops. People didn’t open their data publicly like now, it was all by wordof mouth by building trust and rapport on anindividual basis. Usually by talking in a chatroom on irc. We’ve been here before you can’t stop piracy.
The blackout is not about ‘putting heads in the sand’, it’s about bringing the issue re SOPA and PIPA to the attention of ordinary internet users with the hope that the laws will not be passed as currently intended.
The problem is that the bill is so vaguely worded that the illegal download and file-sharing issue would be the least of our worries. This bill will take you to the cleaners for just about anything.
These corporate giants all big money men in their own right ( such as Wiki and Jimmy Wales) are just fighting their corner . It s all about the money and their ‘fight’ for liberty and freedom is just more crocodile years. Google, Wiki and the like have always taken a hands off ‘not my problem’ approach to defamation, Internet bullying and the like because it suited them. Now toys out of the pram on SOPA, they are not my heroes.
That should have read crocodile tears not years. Ambushed by I phone s predictive text – yet again.
You are completely ill-informed. Wikipedia doesn’t make a profit. It relies on public donations, mainly.
Wikipedia is a non profit website that runs on donations, ad free and not a corporate machine
I like the idea. Control of the Internet should not be lost to corporations or governments.
This cloud idea is also a step towards removing piracy, but a positive step IMO.
Imagine this happened to every website, there would be a lot of loners rippin’ their hair out!
Probably worth mentioning that Irish site Broadsheet.ie is also observing the blackout due to concerns about the precedent being set by US law and the current lobbying by the music industry here to introduce restrictions. See http://www.broadsheet.ie/sopa.html
What’s interesting to think about is this – if the bill DOES come into play, like many Internet users in China, the general public will find more innovative and possibly more secretive ways of “sharing information”
Good point Kiran, mate of mine lives in China and has all sorts of Nobel ways to get around their security.
Novel not Nobel..doh!
For file sharing the Best they can do is make it awkward for the normal user. Sites located in turkey and russia are practically untouchable. I realise that when I purchase a DVD not all the money goes to a spoilt celebrity, it supports production, distribution, sales and advertising staff. But why do they make it so difficult for legal consumers with, forced adverts to watch, region lock, availability, compatibility and different release dates. Big money is behind Bill to be carried which shows the lack of innovation and desperation in the industry. To convict a individual user of illegal downloads is impossible if they have a technical background. To legislate for it is like trying to stop spam email.
Spot the fallacy! (note, it was introduced as a fallacy, but still tossed out as an argument despite the fact it is illogical)
“My main concern is that it puts the organisation in the role of advocacy, and that’s a slippery slope,” said editor Robert Lawton, a Michigan computer consultant. “Before we know it, we’re blacked out because we want to save the whales.”
The Slippery slope fallacy, used to promote the idea of more dire consequences to manipulate a result, appealing to fear responses..
Fact is, you can’t stop piracy. As long as there has been a consumer product with a recording function there has been piracy.
It’s never put Hollywood or the record company out of business before, neither will the Internet. Because (to quote Righteous Babe Records) “Unauthorised duplication, while often necessary, is never as good as the real thing”.
If people like the product enough – they will buy it. If you put out crass, mindless drivel – they won’t..
Besides, it’s not like the artist makes much from their own intellectual property, the record company takes around 90% of the profits and gets reimbursed by the artist for any money they invested in them out of the artists meagre percentage (out of which they pay their management and any other staff). Independent labels don’t whine about piracy nearly as often as the big wigs funnily enough, and they treat their artists more fairly, and tend to embrace the medium of the Internet more.
Buy some merchandise and attend the gigs and the artist is happy, they get more from it. Download the album illegally and the person you are ticking off is the corporate label (especially if it’s crap and you wouldn’t buy it later)
I’d imagine similar applies to visual media, didn’t George Lucas waive his directors fee for Star Wars in favour of royalties on the merchandise? To his great advantage I hasten to add..
Like someone else said above, this is merely about making the Internet a controlled media like tv and radio, no more, no less.. A site can be taken down upon allegation of violation alone – no appeal. It’s simply a sneaky way of quashing net neutrality.
I created a handy bookmarklet to get around the Wikipedia blackout. https://gist.github.com/1632257
Wikipedia is 100% right in what they’re doing, information should be free (even during a blackout).
I am looking to buy air conditioner for my new home. I am looking for an affordable new one to replace the old one I have right now. I live in Layton Utah and need to find a place near me.
My own contribution: http://garfieldminusgarfield.net/day/2012/01/18/
YOU BETTER WATCH THIS VIDEO!
Hello,i found your site through search,yours site is excellent and a nice website…
The contents are nice &will grow higher in future…
thanks,
have your say