The wave of online protests against the Congressional efforts to curtail copyright violations on the Internet is gathering momentum.Source.
Wikipedia is the latest Web site to decide to shut on Wednesday in protest against the two Congressional bills, the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, and the Protect IP Act, or PIPA.
Jimmy Wales, co-founder of Wikipedia, confirmed the site’s decision on Monday on Twitter, writing: “Student warning! Do your homework early. Wikipedia protesting bad law on Wednesday!”
The members of Wikipedia have been debating and voting about whether the site should participate in a blackout, which several other Web sites, including Reddit, the social news site, and BoingBoing, a technology and culture blog, plan to join.
On Twitter, Mr. Wales said that Wikipedia would go dark beginning at midnight Eastern time on Tuesday and remain unavailable until midnight Eastern time on Wednesday. Visitors who try to reach the Wikipedia home page will be greeted with information about the bills and details about how to reach their local representative. Mr. Wales estimated that the blackout could affect as many as 100 million people.
“This is going to be wow, ” Mr. Wales wrote. “I hope Wikipedia will melt phone systems in Washington on Wednesday. Tell everyone you know!”
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7 comments:
Wiki is absolutely right on this one.
I agree.
Admittedly, I have not read the congressional bill, and I realize that it is not unusual to name a bill by its opposite intent. Therefore, I am clearly missing something.
For on the face of it, it seems that the purpose of the bill is to stop plagiarism (isn't that what "online piracy" is?); in other words, the indiscriminate copying of the works others have produced without any compensation (or in some cases, acknowledgement) for these works. If such piracy or plagiarism is permitted, what is the protection afforded by copyrighting (or, to extend the argument, patenting).
Again, I must be missing something; and I'm pleased to be informed by those who have read the congressional bill.
The problem, Father, is that the way the bill is written is so open ended and gives so much control of enforcement to the companies claiming infringement that it could be used not only on properties that pirate and plagiarize copy-righted works but to shut down small competitors and those well within the confines of "fair use" doctrine. All that is required to shut down a website is that a company claims its properties have been infringed- the shut down website can appeal this action, but bureaucratic red-tape being what it is, by the time the website sees the light of day again it has been irreparably damaged.
Thanks, mcommini2, for your comments. It is not usual for the congress to write a law that is intended to be helpful but actually goes overboard or creates more harm.
How do we make our own little websites go dark?
Oh, I see it. Under "Settings" it's the "Permissions" tab. We just specify ourselves as the only readers of the blog. Think I'll do that tomorrow.
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