Wikipedia May Shutdown in Protest

Discussion in 'Politics' started by Trooper, Dec 14, 2011.

  1. Trooper Secular Sanity Valued Senior Member

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    1,784
    Did anyone notice that Wikipedia has proposed that it should temporarily shut down in protest against the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA)?

    “Co-founder Jimmy Wales has suggested that the online encyclopedia should take the drastic measure of shutting down the English version of its site as a “public uprising” if necessary to stop the progress of the anti-piracy laws through congress.”

    "Eric Schmidt, executive chairman of Google, said the antipiracy legislation would allow "censorship" of the Internet. "What they've said is, 'We're going to criminalize the linking and structure of the Internet itself. If someone posts a copied video, we're going to force intermediaries to take the link down.”

    Jimbo Wales-Request for Comment: SOPA and a strike

    How SOPA Will Hurt the Free Web and Wikipedia

    Stop Online Privacy Act
     
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  3. adoucette Caca Occurs Valued Senior Member

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    Nope hadn't heard of that.

    Pretty complicated, but it seems like the legislation might be well intentioned, as it was originally aimed at shutting down foreign sites that posted intellectual property created by U.S. firms, but it may not be very well written (authors might not fully understand the technology they are trying to regulate).

    It's hard to write legislation which has no unintended consequences, even more so when it deals with internet issues.

    From Wiki:

    vs

    Of course, one way to improve legislation is to propose something to get this kind of feedback and use that during the mark-up process (still yet to be done) to tighten definitions and remove/rewrite proposed legislation to resolve these unintended consequences.

    I doubt, for instance, that the Bill's author's intent was to "encourage criminal prosecution of libraries".

    My guess is there will be a lot more discussion and rework before this legislation comes up for a vote.

    http://www.washingtonpost.com/busin.../17/gIQAvLubVN_story.html?tid=pm_business_pop
     
    Last edited: Dec 14, 2011
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  5. Hellenologophobia Registered Senior Member

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  7. Trooper Secular Sanity Valued Senior Member

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    Yep, love the shoes and I can climb a mountain like a non-fainting goat.

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    “In seeking truth you have to get both sides of a story.” Easier said than done.

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    http://www.forbes.com/sopa-fixes-isolate-opponents-especially-google/
     
  8. Trippy ALEA IACTA EST Staff Member

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  9. chimpkin C'mon, get happy! Registered Senior Member

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    Hey, they want to "protect" me from Indian pharma.
    I likes my Indian Pharma!!!

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  10. Telemachus Rex Protesting Mod Stupidity Registered Senior Member

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    I saw that, and it makes Jimmy Wales seem either clueless or hopelessly optimistic. Obviously relatively few people in Congress spend their days searching wikipedia for information. The only way Wales's plan would have an effect, is if everyone else was inconvenienced enough to contact our Congressmen to register the complaint.

    I know people who'd suggest that wikipedia if so prone to errors that he'd be doing English speakers a service by taking it down.

    Now, if Google turned off its browser in protest, then you'd have something.
     
  11. Telemachus Rex Protesting Mod Stupidity Registered Senior Member

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    Wow. That is the most ridiculously biased article I have ever read in Forbes. That he paints the issue as all law abiding Americans versus a vocal minority who benefit from piracy is laying it on a bit thick. Most law abiding Americans still have never heard of SOPA.

    He doesn't even seem to understand that if the government blocks a site, that's true censorship...when Google does it, that's not. If the government tells me I can't read Catcher in the Rye, that's censorship, when my the particular, privately run, book store refuses to sell it to me, it's not.

    Though, as the piece notes, the author did co-write a book called “Search & Destroy: Why You Can’t Trust Google Inc," and his company does work with many of Google's competitors. So you can't necessarily expect him to be impartial when Google is involved.
     
    Last edited: Dec 25, 2011
  12. Trooper Secular Sanity Valued Senior Member

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    Great find, Trippy. That was hilarious.

    Thanks!
    Good point.
     
  13. The Esotericist Getting the message to Garcia Valued Senior Member

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  14. The Esotericist Getting the message to Garcia Valued Senior Member

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    An example of an article that was mirrored from majortrends.tv after they were shut down.

    11 Shocking Things You Now Can Realize To Be True

    This copyright bullshit is about controlling people's thoughts, minds and the control of information, nothing more. :bugeye:
     
  15. Hellenologophobia Registered Senior Member

    Messages:
    158
    Could this really work?

    “Computer hackers plan to take the Internet beyond the reach of censors by putting their own communication satellites into orbit and creating the Hackerspace Global Grid, including ground stations to track and communicate with the satellites.”

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16367042?tk=rel_news
     
  16. Trippy ALEA IACTA EST Staff Member

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    Last edited: Jan 18, 2012

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