At midnight on Jan. 18, the white pages of Wikipedia’s annals went dark, a sight that users of the peer-edited encyclopedia have not known since the website’s inception 11 years ago. The “blackout” prevented users of the sixth most popular destination on the Internet from accessing information on everything – from particle physics to Eiffel 65’s discography and beyond – for a total of 24 hours.
The measure was announced Jan. 16 by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales as part of a strike against the proposed Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and sister bill the Protect IP Act (PIPA).
Over 7,000 other websites took part in the protest on Jan. 18, and while many of the websites participating in the protest would signal their disapproval of SOPA and PIPA by drawing thick black lines through their banners, sites like Wikipedia and popular social news website Reddit were of the few to prevent their users from accessing their content.
While there were several routes around the Wikipedia blackout, Wales was not attempting to disable users from accessing his website as much as he was attempting to raise awareness about the cause.
“Imagine a World Without Free Knowledge,” a header on the blacked out page of Wales’s site read, going on to state its stance on SOPA and PIPA. “U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet.”
If the site’s visitors clicked a link to read more about the strike, they were directed to a FAQ-style page that offered further information on Wikipedia’s stance, and also encouraged American users to contact their local representatives by phone and tell them about their personal oppositions to SOPA, PIPA, and any similar legislation. Users outside of the United States were encouraged to contact their State Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or similar branch of government and do the same.
CNN analyst Julianne Pepitone has said that SOPA’s intended targets are foreign-based sites like Pirate Bay, which enable illegal donwloads and unauthorized access to copyright-protected digital content. What the bill counts as enabling unauthorized access to copyright-protected content, however, is vague.
The language allows for the bill to require editors and facilitators of sites like Wikipedia, Twitter, Facebook, and so many more to closely monitor the many links cited in articles, linked to friends, and other users to make sure none of those links infringe on copyrights. If they don’t, responsibility falls on the shoulders of those editors. With all the time and money involved in the lawsuits that could bring, sites like Wikipedia could be forced offline.
From all of the information available, it appears that if SOPA and PIPA should pass, a blacked out Wikipedia is just a taste of what is about to come.
The Internet is a resource the world has worked hard to cultivate, and to criminalize sites like Wikipedia, and with it our access to free information seems like a major step backward.
The staff at The Ontarion supports the strike against the SOPA and PIPA bills, and encourages all readers to spread the word and do what they can to prevent these bills from passing.
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