From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
- What effect is the blackout having, so far?
- The purpose of the blackout is twofold: to raise awareness of SOPA
and PIPA among the general public, and to encourage people to share
their views with their representatives. It's too early to tell what the
ultimate impact will be, but here are some early indicators, as of 1PM
PT January 18:
- Why is Wikipedia blacked-out?
- Wikipedia is protesting against SOPA and PIPA by blacking out the
English Wikipedia for 24 hours, beginning at midnight January 18,
Eastern Time. Readers who come to English Wikipedia during the blackout
will not be able to read the encyclopedia. Instead, you will see
messages intended to raise awareness about SOPA and PIPA, encouraging
you to share your views with your representatives, and with each other
on social media.
- What are SOPA and PIPA?
- SOPA and PIPA represent two bills in the United States House of
Representatives and the United States Senate respectively. SOPA is short
for the "Stop Online Piracy Act," and PIPA is an acronym for the
"Protect IP Act." ("IP" stands for "intellectual property.") In short,
these bills are efforts to stop copyright infringement committed by
foreign web sites, but, in our opinion, they do so in a way that
actually infringes free expression while harming the Internet. Detailed
information about these bills can be found in the Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act
articles on Wikipedia, which are available during the blackout.
GovTrack lets you follow both bills through the legislative process: SOPA on this page, and PIPA on this one.
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit organization dedicated
to advocating for the public interest in the digital realm, has summarized why these bills are simply unacceptable in a world that values an open, secure, and free Internet.
- Why is the blackout happening?
- Wikipedians have chosen to black out the English Wikipedia for the
first time ever, because we are concerned that SOPA and PIPA will
severely inhibit people's access to online information. This is not a
problem that will solely affect people in the United States: it will
affect everyone around the world.
- Why? SOPA and PIPA are badly drafted legislation that won't be
effective at their stated goal (to stop copyright infringement), and
will cause serious damage to the free and open Internet. They put the
burden on website owners to police user-contributed material and call
for the unnecessary blocking of entire sites. Small sites won't have
sufficient resources to defend themselves. Big media companies may seek
to cut off funding sources for their foreign competitors, even if
copyright isn't being infringed. Foreign sites will be blacklisted,
which means they won't show up in major search engines. And, SOPA and
PIPA build a framework for future restrictions and suppression.
- Does this mean that Wikipedia itself is violating copyright laws, or hosting pirated content?
- No, not at all. Some supporters of SOPA and PIPA characterize
everyone who opposes them as cavalier about copyright, but that is not
accurate. Wikipedians are knowledgeable about copyright and vigilant in
protecting against violations: Wikipedians spend thousands of hours
every week reviewing and removing infringing content. We are careful
about it because our mission is to share knowledge freely. To that end,
all Wikipedians release their contributions under a free license, and
all the material we offer is freely licensed. Free licenses are
incompatible with copyright infringement, and so infringement is not
tolerated.
- Isn't SOPA dead? Wasn't the bill shelved, and didn't the White House
declare that it won't sign anything that resembles the current bill?
- No, neither SOPA nor PIPA is dead. On January 17th, SOPA's sponsor
said the bill will be discussed in early February. There are signs PIPA
may be debated on the Senate floor next week. Moreover, SOPA and PIPA
are just indicators of a much broader problem. In many jurisdictions
around the world, we're seeing the development of legislation that
prioritizes overly-broad copyright enforcement laws, laws promoted by
power players, over the preservation of individual civil liberties.
- How could SOPA and PIPA hurt Wikipedia?
- SOPA and PIPA are a threat to Wikipedia in many ways. For example,
in its current form, SOPA would require Wikipedia to actively monitor
every site we link to, to ensure it doesn't host infringing content. Any
link to an infringing site could put us in jeopardy of being forced
offline.
- I live in the United States. What's the best way for me to help?
- The most effective action you can take is to call your
representatives and tell them you oppose SOPA and PIPA, and any similar
legislation. Type your zipcode in the locator box to find your representatives' contact information. Text-based communication is okay, but phone calls have the most impact.
- I don't live in the United States. How can I help?
- Contact your local State Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or
similar branch of government. Tell them you oppose SOPA and PIPA, and
any similar legislation. SOPA and PIPA will affect sites outside of the
United States, and actions to sites inside the United States (like
Wikipedia) will also affect non-American readers -- like you. Calling
your own government will also let them know you don't want them to
create their own bad anti-Internet legislation.
- Is it still possible to access Wikipedia in any way?
- Yes. During the blackout, Wikipedia is accessible on mobile devices
and smart phones. You can also view Wikipedia normally by disabling
JavaScript in your browser, as explained on this Technical FAQ page.
Our purpose here isn't to make it completely impossible for people to
read Wikipedia, and it's okay for you to circumvent the blackout. We
just want to make sure you see our message.
- I keep hearing that this is a fight between Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Is that true?
- No. Some people are characterizing it that way, probably in an
effort to imply all the participants are motivated by commercial
self-interest. But it's obviously not that simple. The proof of that is
Wikipedia's involvement. Wikipedia has no financial self-interest at
play here: we do not benefit from copyright infringement, nor are we
trying to monetize traffic or sell ads. We are protesting to raise
awareness about SOPA and PIPA solely because we think they will hurt the
Internet, and your ability to access information online. We are doing
this for you, because we're on your side.
- In carrying out this protest, is Wikipedia abandoning neutrality?
- We hope you continue to trust Wikipedia to be a neutral information
source. We are staging this blackout because (as Wikimedia Foundation
Trustee Kat Walsh said recently), although Wikipedia’s articles are
neutral, its existence is not. For over a decade, Wikipedians have spent
millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history.
Wikipedia is a tremendously useful resource, and its existence depends
upon a free, open and uncensored Internet. SOPA and PIPA (and other
similar laws under discussion inside and outside the United States) will
hurt you, because they will make it impossible for sites you enjoy, and
benefit from, to continue to exist. That's why we're doing this.
- I have a question that isn't answered here, or, I would like to send feedback to Wikipedia.
- You can reach Wikipedia editors at info-en(at)wikimedia(dot)org. If
you need a response, please be patient: we may have trouble keeping up
with the mail.
- What can I read to get more information?
- Try these links:
- As of 6AM PT, January 18, Google has more than 4,600 articles about the blackout. Here are a few:
- Why is Wikipedia staging a blackout and what is SOPA?, from the National Post
- Wikipedia joins blackout protest at US anti-piracy moves, from the British Broadcasting Corporation
- Wikipedia blackout over US anti-piracy bills and FEATURE: Websites blackout over 'SOPA censorship', from Al Jazeera
- Wikipedia, Craigslist, other sites go black in SOPA protest, from the Los Angeles Times
- Google Rallies Opposition to Murdoch-Backed Anti-Piracy Bill, from BusinessWeek
- SOPA protest: The Net strikes back, from Politico
- Wikipedia blackout a 'gimmick', MPAA boss claims, from the Guardian
- Wikipedia 24-hour blackout: a reader and Why we're taking Wikipedia down for a day, from the New Statesman
- Internet-wide protests against SOPA/PIPA are kicking up a storm, by the Hindustan Times
- SOPA, PIPA: What you need to know, from CBS News
- Protest on Web Uses Shutdown to Take On Two Piracy Bills, from the New York Times
- Protesting SOPA: how to make your voice heard, from Ars Technica
- Why We've Censored Wired.com, from Wired
Millions of Americans oppose SOPA and PIPA because these bills would censor the
Internet and slow economic growth in the U.S.
Two bills before Congress, known as the Protect IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate and the
Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House, would censor the Web and impose harmful
regulations on American business. Millions of Internet users and entrepreneurs
already oppose SOPA and PIPA.
The Senate will begin voting on January 24th. Please let them know how you feel. Sign
this petition urging Congress to vote NO on PIPA and SOPA before it is too late.
SOPA: Hollywood Finally Gets A Chance to Break the Internet
As
promised, here’s the first installment of our closer review of the massive piece of job-killing Internet regulation that is the
Stop Online Piracy Act.
We’ll start with how it could impact Twitter, Tumblr, and the next
innovative social network, cloud computing, or web hosting service that
some smart kid is designing in her garage right now.
Let’s make one thing clear from the get-go: despite
all the talk about this bill being directed only toward “rogue” foreign
sites, there is no question that it targets US companies as well. The
bill sets up a system to punish sites allegedly “dedicated to the theft
of US property.” How do you get that label? Doesn’t take much: Some portion of your site (even a single page) must
- be directed toward the US, and either
- allegedly “engage in, enable or facilitate” infringement or
- allegedly be taking or have taken steps to “avoid confirming a high probability” of infringement.
If an IP rightsholder (vaguely defined – could be Justin Bieber
worried about his publicity rights)
thinks you meet the criteria and that it is in some way harmed, it can
send a notice claiming as much to the payment processors (Visa,
Mastercard, Paypal etc.) and ad services you rely on.
Once they get it, they have 5 days to choke off your financial support. Of
course, the payment processors and ad networks won’t be able to
fine-tune their response so that only the allegedly infringing portion
of your site is affected, which means your whole site will be under
assault. And, it makes no difference that no judge has
found you guilty of anything or that the DMCA safe harbors would shelter
your conduct if the matter ever went to court. Indeed, services that have been specifically found legal,
like Rapidshare,
could be economically strangled via SOPA. You can file a
counter-notice, but you’ve only got 5 days to do it (good luck getting
solid legal advice in time) and the payment processors and ad networks
have no obligation to respect it in any event. That’s
because there are vigilante provisions that grant them immunity for
choking off a site if they have a “reasonable belief” that some portion
of the site enables infringement.
At a minimum, this means that any service that
hosts user generated content is going to be under enormous pressure to
actively monitor and filter that content. That’s a huge
burden, and worse for services that are just getting started – the
YouTubes of tomorrow that are generating jobs today. And
no matter what they do, we’re going to see a flurry of notices anyway –
as we’ve learned from the DMCA takedown process, content owners are more
than happy to
send bogus complaints. What happened to Wikileaks via
voluntary censorship will now be systematized and streamlined – as long as someone, somewhere, thinks they’ve got an IP right that’s being harmed.
In essence, Hollywood is tired of those pesky
laws that help protect innovation, economic growth, and creativity rather than outmoded business models. So they are trying to rewrite the rules, regulate the Internet, and damn the consequences for the rest of us.
Watch this space for more analysis, but don’t wait
to act. This bill cannot be fixed; it must be killed. The bill’s
sponsors (and their corporate backers) want to push this thing through
quickly, before ordinary citizens get wind of the harm it is going to
cause. If you don’t want to let big media control the future of innovation and online expression,
act now, and urge everyone you know to do the same.
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By Dan Nguyen, ProPublica. Updated Jan. 18, 2012
Well-funded interests on either side of
SOPA and
PIPA
are lining up support among members of Congress. This database keeps
track of where members of Congress stand. Findings are based on two
factors: whether a member is a sponsor of the proposed bills, and each
member's voting record on the current bills' precursors and
alternatives. Click the links on the left to filter the supporters list.
New: The
latest statements and actions on SOPA/PIPA
Related story:
About SOPA Opera
Stop SOPA
This site is blacked out from 5am-5pm PST to
protest the House's Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Senate's
Protect I.P. Act (PIPA). Both bills pose a tremendous threat to free
speech and innovation online. While it appears the House has all but
abandoned SOPA, the Senate is still pressing ahead with PIPA's most
dangerous provisions intact, including those that would force internet
service providers to block access to entire sites through DNS blocking
and other means that threaten both the universality and the security of
the internet itself.
Piracy is a real problem. But these are the wrong solutions. If this
legislation passes legitimate websites will be threatened. Some will
disappear. Today, our site disappears along with many others to protest
the misguided approaches SOPA and PIPA employ, and to demonstrate the
threat they pose.
To learn more about this legislation and what you can do to make a
difference, please visit the links below and share them with friends.
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