Re: WiKiPedia to shut down for 24 hrs to protest SOPA
Quote:
Originally Posted by Liverpool_fan
Agreed with Vineet, for every effort to circumvent that stuff you should work 10 times more to fight against SOPA and PIPA.
Thanks LFC. I would like to add one more thing.
The aim of Wikipedia is not to take the wealth of information out of reach from people, but to inform them about the barbaric attempt to control Interweb.
And I think they are doing it quite impressively.
Offtopic:
@Who: Glad to have you back buddy!
(And to know you post too)
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Re: WiKiPedia to shut down for 24 hrs to protest SOPA
An update-
Quote:
Google Inc will place a link on its home page tomorrow protesting anti-piracy measures in the US Congress, joining other internet companies demonstrating against the Hollywood-backed legislation.
Google, owner of the world's most popular search engine, and Facebook Inc are among companies opposing House and Senate bills they say they will hurt the growth of the US technology industry. Wikipedia, the online encyclopedia where users contribute entries, said it will shut the English version of its website for 24 hours tomorrow to protest the measures.
"We oppose these bills because there are smart, targeted ways to shut down foreign rogue websites without asking American companies to censor the internet," Samantha Smith, a Google spokeswoman, said in an e-mail today.
The Stop Online Piracy Act in the House and the Protect IP Act in the Senate are backed by the movie and music industries as a means to crack down on the sale of counterfeit goods by non-US websites. Hollywood studios want lawmakers to ensure that Internet companies such as Google share responsibility for curbing the distribution of pirated material.
A legislative push led by the Washington-based Motion Picture Association of America and the US Chamber of Commerce, the nation's largest business-lobbying group, has run into a backlash from Web companies that say the bills would saddle them with new liabilities and technology mandates.
'Abuse of power'
Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, called the decision to shut the website an "extraordinary" action in response to the proposed laws, which "endanger free speech both in the United States and abroad, and set a frightening precedent of internet censorship for the world."
Wikipedia, available in 282 languages, contains more than 20 million articles contributed by more than 100,000 volunteers around the world.
The so-called blackout day to protest anti-piracy legislation is "abuse of power given the freedoms these companies enjoy in the marketplace today," Christopher Dodd, chairman of the Motion Picture Association of America, said today in an e-mailed statement.
"It's a dangerous and troubling development when the platforms that serve as gateways to information intentionally skew the facts to incite their users in order to further their corporate interests," said Dodd, a Connecticut Democrat who served three decades in the Senate.
'Publicity stunt'
Representative Lamar Smith, a Texas Republican who sponsored the House measure, also criticised the planned Wikipedia shutdown.
"The bill will not harm Wikipedia, domestic blogs or social networking sites," Smith, the chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, said today in an e-mailed statement. "This publicity stunt does a disservice to its users by promoting fear instead of facts."
Smith said he expects his committee to resume debate over the Stop Online Piracy Act in February and didn't provide a date for when the panel would act.
The administration of President Barack Obama said in a blog post on Jan. 14 that it wouldn't support legislation that encourages censorship, undermines cybersecurity or disrupts the structure of the Internet.
Vote pending
The blog post, by three White House technology officials, marked the administration's most significant foray into the fight between content creators and Web companies playing out in Congress. The Senate is scheduled to hold a procedural vote Jan. 24 on starting debate on the Protect IP Act.
News Corp Chairman Rupert Murdoch called Google a "piracy leader" in a Jan. 14 post on Twitter, saying it streams movies for free and sells advertisements around them. A day later he wrote on Twitter that Google is a "great company doing many exciting things. Only one complaint, and it's important."
Miranda Higham, a News Corp spokeswoman, declined to comment.
Smith, the Google spokeswoman, said the company respects copyright. "Last year we took down 5 million infringing Web pages from our search results and invested more than $60 million in the fight against bad ads," she said in an e-mail.
The House Judiciary Committee debated the Stop Online Piracy Act during a 12-hour hearing last month in which lawmakers offered 60 amendments to the legislation. Panel members voted on about half of those amendments before the session was adjourned.
Removing provision
Smith, the Judiciary Committee chairman, said January 13 that he would remove a provision that would require internet-service providers, when ordered by a court, to block access to non-US websites offering pirated content.
Senator Patrick Leahy, a Vermont Democrat who leads the Senate Judiciary Committee, said January 12 that he's willing to consider dropping a similar provision from the bill he sponsored. Opponents say such website-blocking may harm the stability of the internet's domain-name system.
The Senate measure cleared Leahy's committee in May and awaits consideration by the full chamber.
The Senate bill is S. 968 and the House bill is H.R. 3261.
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Re: WiKiPedia to shut down for 24 hrs to protest SOPA
Quote:
Originally Posted by Vyom
I love the way wikipedia has handled the blackout. Not by shutting down the servers. They redirect it after a few seconds. I think it would have a greater effect. The sudden transition to black screen could be shocking to some who are not aware for the protests.
Wait till the people behind this hideous law, are faced with the questions of their children, about why Wikipedia is not working as it always do! Let them answer their sons and daughters about how Wikipedia 'break the law' by sharing information from the users all around the world!
This reminds me the story of Dandi March by M.K. Gandhi.
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Programming today is a race between software engineers striving to build bigger and better idiot-proof programs, and the Universe trying to produce bigger and better idiots. So far, the Universe is winning. - Rich Cook
Its not an initiative, rather a participation. Granted its huge compared to what other sites like wired or vimeo has done with flashing just a subtle message on their home pages, compared to full blackout by wikipedia and XDA.
These sites have just earned more trust than ever before.
Respect. :thumbup:
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Marty: Hey, Doc, we better back up. We don't have enough road to get up to 88.
Doc Brown: Roads? Where we're going, we don't need, "roads!" :)
──── On the Internet you can be Anything you want. It's Strange that, so many people choose to be Stupid! ────
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Re: WiKiPedia to shut down for 24 hrs to protest SOPA
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