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Wikipedia confirms site blackout to protest SOPA anti-piracy bill

By | January 16, 2012, 10:06am PST

Summary: The English version of Wikipedia will go offline on Wednesday for 24 hours to protest the SOPA anti-piracy bill.

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales confirmed today that the global encyclopedia will “go offline” for 24 hours this coming Wednesday to protest the SOPA anti-piracy bill.

He wrote on Twitter that the 24-hour blackout would begin from midnight from Washington DC-time. It will only affect the English version of Wikipedia.

The site will instead display a message asking users to reach out to their local U.S. Congress representatives, in a hope that the message will “melt [phone] switchboards” with volume.

Wikipedia had been toying with the idea for the past few weeks. Taking Wikipedia offline — as one of the world’s most visited sites — will not have been taken lightly.

The German version will run a banner, and other languages will “make their own decisions”, Wales said. He also said that it was a “community decision”, rather than his alone.

With more than 3.8 million articles in the English Wikipedia, it will affect hundreds of millions, if not the billion mark.

This news comes the same day that the SOPA anti-piracy bill, that would allow rights holders to have websites shutdown that allegedly infringe copyright, was shelved by Congress.

While the bill is down rather than out, it was made clear after the weekend that the White House would not support any bill that does: “not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet”.

Wikipedia has more than 420 million unique monthly visitors, and over 20 million articles in 300 different languages across the network.

Wikipedia will join Reddit, WordPress, Mozilla and the Cheezburger network in Wednesday’s protest against the draft bill.

Image source: Twitter.

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Topics

Blackout, Antipiracy, Wikipedia, Stop Online Piracy Act, Wiki, Piracy, Online Communications, Business Operations, Corporate Law, Zack Whittaker

Zack Whittaker, a criminologist who studied at the University of Kent, Canterbury, is a journalist, writer and broadcaster.

Disclosure

Zack Whittaker

I worked briefly with Microsoft UK in 2006 but no longer have any connection with the company. Regardless, I remain impartial and unbiased in my views.

I don't hold any stock or shares, investments or industrial secrets in any company, but have signed confidentiality agreements with a number of UK and U.S. organisations, whose names I am not at liberty to disclose.

I was involved with Kent Union, the University of Kent's student union, undertaking voluntary, non-salaried, elected positions between early 2009 and mid-2010.

No other company, body, government department, non-governmental organisation or third sector organisation employs me or pays me a salary in any capacity whatsoever.

As a freelance journalist, whenever expenses are given and taken by a company that is not CBS Interactive, these will be disclosed in each relevant post to ensure transparency.

I currently work with a UK law enforcement unit, but this is an entirely separate position which bears no connection to other work.

(Updated: 23rd October 2011)

Biography

Zack Whittaker

Zack Whittaker, criminologist who studied at the University of Kent, UK, is a journalist, writer and broadcaster.

After studying criminology at university, though still in his early-20's, he has already had a series unconventional work and voluntary positions. He has worked with researchers studying neurological illnesses like Tourette's syndrome (which he suffers from), has given lectures on the nature of disabilities in the public community, and occasionally ends up speaking on television and radio discussing the events of the day.

He first had academic work published at the age of 22, then still an undergraduate, and has been cited by a wide range of publications: from CNN, the Huffington Post, AllThingsDigital, The Atlantic Wire and CBS News.

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RE: Wikipedia confirms site blackout to protest SOPA anti-piracy bill
Bates_ 17th Jan
@kazvorpal@... I oppose you! Spoken like a true contradicting noob. You can't oppose SOPA and then oppose websites for joining in on the blackout. You honestly sound like a fool.
View in thread
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RE: Wikipedia confirms site blackout to protest SOPA anti-piracy bill
Samic 16th Jan
"Wikipedia has more than 420 unique monthly visitors"

Doesn't seem to be a lot of visitors?
(yeah, I know it's probably just a typo)
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Contributr
RE: Wikipedia confirms site blackout to protest SOPA anti-piracy bill
zwhittaker 16th Jan
@Samic 420 million -- good spot. Thanks!
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All your content is OURS!
ReadTheBill 16th Jan
Wtg Jimmy! Fight censorship by using censorship! Will you go offline if Obama signs SOPA? One can only hope. Good thing you just finished your campaign drive. I suspect contributions will be down next year. You certainly won't be getting ours again.
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What Students?
ReadTheBill 16th Jan
"Academics have also criticized Wikipedia for its perceived failure as a reliable source, and because Wikipedia editors may not have degrees or other credentials generally recognized in academia.[48][49] For that reason, the use of Wikipedia is not accepted in many schools and universities." Source: Wikipedia/Reliability of Wikipedia
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RE: Wikipedia confirms site blackout to protest SOPA anti-piracy bill
Aerowind 17th Jan
@ReadTheBill Regardless of it's citability, it's still a useful tool, especially when trying to, you know, find sources. Since you have to cite sources on Wikipedia and all. Not to mention it's great to get an overall clear, concise view of a subject matter.
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This demonstrates...
John L. Ries 16th Jan
...that members of Congress are much more likely to pay attention to public opinion when people are actually paying attention, then when they're not. It's in the latter case that lobbyists and large campaign contributors have most of their influence.

I'm sure the copyright lobby will try again , but probably not this year.
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RE: Wikipedia confirms site blackout to protest SOPA anti-piracy bill
Knowles2 16th Jan
@John L. Ries An probably not why Obama is in the White House.
An I suspect they will choose a less memorable name next time, protect -ip for example rarely comes up in articles, while SOPA is always talked about.
0 Votes
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Great move
symbolset 16th Jan
While I've supported Wikipedia financially in the past, it's time to open up the wallet and give again - and this time to get serious.

Now it's Zuckerberg's turn to man up. Facebook needs to go down too.
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Productivity
Martmarty 16th Jan
@symbolset,
If Facebook will do that, the productivity of most employees, including my colleagues' output, will go up.
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I Opposed SOPA, but Wednesday I Oppose Wikipedia
kazvorpal@... 16th Jan
If Wikipedia, Wordpress, and the rest cut off their services on Wednesday, I will NOT be using the time to call Congress about SOPA, but instead will be advocating against those organizations.

They will be cutting us off NOT because of anything we've done wrong, but in an attempt to bully us into retaliating against a third party.

They will be violating our trust, proving themselves unreliable and corrupt.
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RE: Wikipedia confirms site blackout to protest SOPA anti-piracy bill
Aerowind 17th Jan
@kazvorpal@... Get real, they're not forcing you to do anything. Rather, they're informing people. SOPA and Protect-IP are known to us, because we're techies, but none of my college buddies nor my coworkers have even heard of SOPA. Get off your high horse, you're not entitled to anything.
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RE: Wikipedia confirms site blackout to protest SOPA anti-piracy bill
Bates_ 17th Jan
@kazvorpal@... I oppose you! Spoken like a true contradicting noob. You can't oppose SOPA and then oppose websites for joining in on the blackout. You honestly sound like a fool.

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