Wikipedia will be blacked out!

[Stray Cat]

Do you approve?
What are your thoughts on the matter?

When you open up ANY page there, you see:
"Please note: in less than 15 hours,
the English Wikipedia will be blacked out totally to protest SOPA and PIPA"

SOPA?
In short:
"...social media sites like Facebook or YouTube—bascailly any site with user generated content—would have to police their own sites, forcing huge liability costs onto countless Internet companies."


So..
What now?!

 

[LizzieMaine]

Well, the collective IQ of the planet will go up by about fifty points when that happens.

 

[Doctor Strange]

Lots of homework and papers will end up being late: the vast majority of today's kids know no other method of doing research.

 

[Stray Cat]

Well, the collective IQ of the planet will go up by about fifty points when that happens.

I agree!
Most people find that Wiki is their collective intelligence container.
..will they have to rely on BOOKS?!
Oh, my...
And all those homeworks.. those essays.. LOT of kids will have a problem, LARGE problem for the next 24hours!

 

[hyhats]

It's a 24-hour black-out -- but I thought the White House shelved SOPA...

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

In a nutshell...

"The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as House Bill 3261 or H.R. 3261, is a bill that was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on October 26, 2011, by House Judiciary Committee Chair Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) and a bipartisan group of 12 initial co-sponsors. The bill, if made law, would expand the ability of U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders to fight online trafficking in copyrighted intellectual property and counterfeit goods. Presented to the House Judiciary Committee, it builds on the similar PRO-IP Act of 2008 and the corresponding Senate bill, the PROTECT IP Act.

The originally proposed bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Depending on who makes the request, the court order could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators from doing business with the allegedly infringing website, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites. The bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a crime, with a maximum penalty of five years in prison for ten such infringements within six months. The bill also gives immunity to Internet services that voluntarily take action against websites dedicated to infringement, while making liable for damages any copyright holder who knowingly misrepresents that a website is dedicated to infringement.

Proponents of the bill say it protects the intellectual property market and corresponding industry, jobs and revenue, and is necessary to bolster enforcement of copyright laws, especially against foreign websites. They cite examples such as Google's $500 million settlement with the Department of Justice for its role in a scheme to target U.S. consumers with ads to illegally import prescription drugs from Canadian pharmacies.

Opponents say that it violates the First Amendment, is Internet censorship, will cripple the Internet, and will threaten whistle-blowing and other free speech actions. Opponents have initiated a number of protest actions, including petition drives, boycotts of companies that support the legislation, and planned service blackouts by major Internet companies scheduled to coincide with the next Congressional hearing on the matter.

The House Judiciary Committee held hearings on November 16 and December 15, 2011. The Committee was scheduled to continue debate in January 2012."

 

[Formeruser012523]

Did you get that from Wikipedia?

 

[vitanola]

It's a 24-hour black-out -- but I thought the White House shelved SOPA...

.

No, for whilst the President has belatedly expressed his opposition th this ill-starred piece of legislation, the leadership in the House, with the unsuprising bi-partisan cooperation members on the other side of the aisle, is determined to push it through, presumably in deference to their paymasters.

Note that SOPA as currently constituted would allow for the pre-emotive blocking of any web address accused of unfair use, with no real chance for appeal, nor with any realistic determination of whether such charges are even justified in fact.

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

Did you get that from Wikipedia?

Shhhhhhh! lol

 

[V.C. Brunswick]

.

No, for whilst the President has belatedly expressed his opposition th this ill-starred piece of legislation, the leadership in the House, with the unsuprising bi-partisan cooperation members on the other side of the aisle, is determined to push it through, presumably in deference to their paymasters.

Note that SOPA as currently constituted would allow for the pre-emotive blocking of any web address accused of unfair use, with no real chance for appeal, nor with any realistic determination of whether such charges are even justified in fact.

If it does pass SOPA will likely face some major legal challenges -- probably all the way up to the Supreme Court.

 

[Atticus Finch]

Well, the collective IQ of the planet will go up by about fifty points when that happens.

:eusa_clap

 

[Stray Cat]

We did got spoiled, didn't we?
Whenever we are in doubt.. go to Wiki.
Whenever there' a question.. let's ask Wiki.

Wiki is smart, fast, exact..
No wonder most of people fell for her.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Except when Wiki is wrong, distorted, and the result of "consensus" rather than "research." Fifty million people agreeing something is a fact doesn't make it one.

As far as SOPA goes, I've had my own work stolen by "online researchers," stripped of my name and copyright notice, and made available for free download. That's cash money picked out of my pocket, and as far as I'm concerned, throw the book at 'em.

 

[Rathdown]

The shut down of Wiki will be of no great loss to western civilization as we know it.

I agree with Lizzie Maine-- it is time that internet "information providers" be held accountable, both civilly and criminally, for what they publish, the same as books, magazines, newspapers, and broadcasters are held accountable.

Those who feel that they are entitled to free circuses and a never ending supply of ice cream will undoubtedly disagree because, unlike those of us who "own the circuses and make the ice cream" they have nothing to loose by condoning intellectual theft.

 

[skyvue]

I agree with Lizzie Maine-- it is time that internet "information providers" be held accountable, both civilly and criminally, for what they publish, the same as books, magazines, newspapers, and broadcasters are held accountable.

But SOPA wouldn't ensure that they were held accountable "the same as books, magazines, newspapers and broadcasters have been." SOPA is far more draconian.

And there are already laws on the books that protect Lizzie's work and yours and mine.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Problem is, the nature of the internet makes it much easier for them to get away with it -- stomp on one cockroach and fifty more appear in its place. What's needed is a change in Internet culture, to an idea that there is, in fact, such a thing as Intellectual Property Rights that shouldn't be overlooked simply because Joe Downloader feels like he shouldn't have to pay for anything. And that, alas, will never, ever happen.

Honestly, the current free-for-all isn't good for anyone, not really. When All Information Is Free, it's worth exactly what you pay for it.

 

[Edward]

Except when Wiki is wrong, distorted, and the result of "consensus" rather than "research." Fifty million people agreeing something is a fact doesn't make it one.

It's certainly not one I would ever accept as an academic source. To be fair, though, it can be a reasonable starting point in some respects, and an academic study in the UK did conclude that within set parameters of "science topics" it was at least as accurate as the Encyclopaedia Britannica.

As far as SOPA goes, I've had my own work stolen by "online researchers," stripped of my name and copyright notice, and made available for free download. That's cash money picked out of my pocket, and as far as I'm concerned, throw the book at 'em.

There are always two sides to every story. I've not had a chance to review the Bill yet so can't comment on that directly. I'll be interested to see how much of a burden it really puts on these sites. If it backs them into the role of being editors (as opposed to responding to complaints) of third party information, that will have significant implications for the application of the DMCA and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act.

Problem is, the nature of the internet makes it much easier for them to get away with it -- stomp on one cockroach and fifty more appear in its place. What's needed is a change in Internet culture, to an idea that there is, in fact, such a thing as Intellectual Property Rights that shouldn't be overlooked simply because Joe Downloader feels like he shouldn't have to pay for anything. And that, alas, will never, ever happen.

Honestly, the current free-for-all isn't good for anyone, not really. When All Information Is Free, it's worth exactly what you pay for it.

That's where the information economy will go next, IMO: the value will be less in the availability, more in the quality of the information - trusted brands, etc.

Fascinating to watch, though, from the outside: Section 230 gives them a free pass on third party libel even if they knew it was here and did nothing, but when it comes to copyright work..... You can clearly see the relative power of different lobby groups at work. I'm in favour of copyright myself, I just wish that the balance between end user and rightsholder was restored (technology has been increasingly used to distort it in favour of the rightsholder in recent years)..... and at the rightsholder end it was the creatives who benefited more often, rather than a parasitic middle-man industry which whines about piracy and then screws over the creatives just as hard every time.

 

[LocktownDog]

Well, the collective IQ of the planet will go up by about fifty points when that happens.

The most astute point regarding the matter I've read anywhere in the past couple of days.

 

[skyvue]

Cory Doctorow of BoingBoing.net offers his take on SOPA.

 

[Mrs Chaddsley_Corbett]

I have donated to help save it, I find it invaluable