Jimmy Wales In Favor Of Wikipedia Blackout: Community Must Decide
from the speak-up dept
While there have been some previous discussions about whether or not Wikipedia would black out its site to protest SOPA/PIPA -- and the community's consensus was to do so -- it appeared that they had agreed that the trigger for a black out would be on the passing of the bill. That's a little late. However, now, with Reddit's plan to black out its site next Wednesday being joined by lots of other sites, some have been demanding that Wikipedia join them. Jimmy Wales has now spoken out saying he supports a blackout on Wednesday with Reddit, but would like the community to come to agreement first:I'm all in favor of it, and I think it would be great if we could act quickly to coordinate with Reddit. I'd like to talk to our government affairs advisor to see if they agree on this as useful timing, but assuming that's a greenlight, I think that matching what Reddit does (but in our own way of course) per the emerging consensus on how to do it, is a good idea. But that means we need to move forward quickly on a concrete proposal and vote - we don't have the luxury of time that we usually have, in terms of negotiating with each other for weeks about what's exactly the best possible thing to do. As I understand it, the Foundation is talking to people about how we can geolocate and guide people to their Congressperson, etc. Geoff will know about that. Our task is to decide to do it with a thumbs up / thumbs down vote.So, speak up, Wikipedians...
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Filed Under: blackout, censorship, copyright, jimmy wales, pipa, protect ip, sopa, wikpedia
Companies: wikipedia
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Wikipedia:WikiPoliticalProcess
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Next Wednesday, BLACKOUT!!!
As a community, let's blackout as much of the internet as we can, to bring attention to our opposition to SOPA!
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I don't get it
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Re: I don't get it
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Re: Re: I don't get it
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Holding drives, rallies, etc... with things like the wikipedia banner (à la donate) are simply not as effective.
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Re: Re: Re: I don't get it
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Can't you understand that simple concept?
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Re: I don't get it
And I support the black out 100%. Wikipedia can go a day without it's service, even if it's during midterms... Lol.
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Re: I don't get it
Well, it's just a way of getting people to notice. You can tell people that a bill will enable censorship and may interfere with the websites they visit every day, and you can tell them a thousand times, but that will never make the same impact as a single visit to your blacked-out site. It's a bold move, for sure - and that speaks to just how important this is: these sites are so worried about what's going to happen under SOPA/PIPA that they are willing to do a small amount of harm to themselves and their users, if it means getting more attention for the issue and combating the huge amounts of harm that could be done by the legislation.
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Re: Re: I don't get it
Much like the NRA protects the second amendment, I think a bunch of large internet sites banding together, in this, and in funding the other politician, can protect both the 1st and the 4th amendment. It is something we so need, a coalition to prevent censorship.
Any coalition of this sort should stay away from lobbying or paying politicians for laws. That path is a trap. They should just inform and rally people of what politicians are up to on the issues of the 1st and the 4th.
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Re: Re: Re: I don't get it
"They should just inform and rally people of what politicians are up to on the issues of the 1st and the 4th." Then at a later date (reads before the election) remind people of how politicians voted and the repercussions of those laws.
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Re: I don't get it
* - And the shills will come in to claim that these laws will only target "rogue sites", but then those same shills also claimed that DMCA takedowns would never be abused, and Righthaven was doing the right thing.
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Re: I don't get it
This is about motivating grass roots and this would do exactly that which is why I pledged to donate 10 dollars to wikipedia if they do indeed go black out for sopa.
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Re: Re: I don't get it
This is people saying, "This is our country, you are here to represent US, not corporations"
This is people saying, "Stop being such bought off devious retches".
This is "we the people" giving notice to the politicians.
This is the party of we.
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Re: I don't get it
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I went to en.wikipedia.org expecting to find a link.
I use wikipedia quite a lot, even though I don't add a lot to it. It is very valuable to me. I don't think I'm alone on that, would like to see this stand taken.
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http://www.wikipediablackout.com/
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See the hypocrisy? Entertainment industry folks won't allow their own to be blocked, but they'll block anyone that doesn't have enough funds to battle in court.
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While I find it hard to believe we could get Google, Amazon, eBay, Twitter, Facebook etc to actually black-out, it might be possible to get a fake black-out. Something along the lines of a gigantic click-through popup. It would draw people's attention without killing the service.
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Need more.
Facebook and Google would be ideal. If these sites went down with Reddit and Wikipedia, the world would shudder. No one would be able to ignore the message. They may disagree with it, but NO ONE will be able to ignore it. No one will say that there is no opposition anymore.
Everyone will learn what SOPA and PIPA are about and the demand for action will increase.
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DO IT!!!!
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No. Just no.
We fought against this in too many places to allow it to come to these shores.
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Wikipedia:SOPA initiative
• Key Page: Proposed community action
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If I were a SOPA supported, I'd be trying like hell to pass it on Blackout Wednesday.
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Yahoo
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No matter what happens.
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Dissenting Voice
Wikipedia's purpose isn't to preserve its own existence. It's just to exist, as an encyclopedia. It's sullying its own function with this political grandstanding.
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Re: Dissenting Voice
"Wikipedia's purpose isn't to preserve its own existence. It's just to exist"
How does it exist if the bill being discussed is passed into law?
"It's sullying its own function with this political grandstanding."
History and encyclopedias are written by the winners. Not by those who sit by the side of the road and do nothing.
Do we want an entry in the future www.OfficialEncylopedia.gov that reads
Wikipedia - A site shut down for "alleged" infringement under H.R. 3261. No further information is available.
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Re: Re: Dissenting Voice
I think the latter, the people, should do all they can to stop SOPA/PIPA because they're horrendously stupid pieces of legislation.
But I don't think the former should be involved. I don't think those people should USE their encyclopedia as another weapon to make their side win the debate.
Wikipedia is not a political tool. It's an encyclopedia.
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Re: Dissenting Voice
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I support the blackout 100%
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Wow. I mean, this is one of the most insulting things I've ever read. I understand Wikipedia is a nonprofit, but to force a "pay or we'll do nothing" to stand against SOPA, rather than just turn off the site, is troubling to me.
Now I regret donating last year.
I don't like this "Money or nothing" extortion attempt.
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However, I believe it's more important for Google, Facebook and Youtube to get involved. These three have a lot to lose under SOPA/PIPA, and the latter 2 could even be shut down under these laws. And you can bet your ass they get tens of millions of hits per day from all over the globe. Yes, people outside the US should be protesting because
A. It could fuck up the internet for them too, particularly social media
B. It sets a bad international precedent, other countries will point to the filters and other measures the freedom-loving US has in place to justify their own similar totalitarian systems and
C. Most of the companies that are pushing for the laws are big multinationals, many with offices in other countries, so they can be punished in and out of the US, but only if a sufficient number of people know about it.
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BLACKOUT
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Agree w/blackout
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for it!
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SOPA/PIPA
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