Wikipedia to blackout for a day to protest US ant-piracy legislation
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- Media & Corporate communications
- Tuesday, 17 January 2012 15:37
- Published Date
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Gujarat Global News Network, New Delhi
Wikipedia, the popular information sharing website, has announced that it will voluntarily blackout the English version of the website for a day on Wednesday to protest proposed U.S. anti-piracy legislations. The announcement was made by the Wikimedia foundation on its website.
They have decided to blackout the English version of Wikipedia for 24 hours, in protest against proposed legislation in the United States — the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and PROTECTIP (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate. Wikipedia is of the view that if passed, this legislation will harm the free and open Internet and bring about new tools for censorship of international websites inside the United States.
Some of the provisions such as The Anti-Circumvention Provision, The “Vigilante” Provision, Corporate Right of Action, Expanded Attorney General Powers etc. have been found to be potentially “damaging to freedom of expression, increases cyber security risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet." as per the statement by the White House.
The website will be blacked out for 24 Hours worldwide, beginning at 05:00 UTC on Wednesday, January 18.
Indian readers can associate the action of Wikipedia to the blank editorial episode of the India Express at the time of Emergency imposed by Indra Gandhi. The Indian express dated 28th June 1975 carried a blank editorial to protest against the Censorship in newspapers during the period of Emergency.
For news in Hindi see our Hindi daily Chaupal Chronicle
