Wikipedia to shut down for 24 hours on Wednesday

[ClubMan]

[broken link removed]

o: English Wikipedia Readers and Community
From: Sue Gardner, Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director
Date: January 16, 2012

Today, the Wikipedia community announced its decision to black out the English-language Wikipedia for 24 hours, worldwide, beginning at 05:00 UTC on Wednesday, January 18 (you can read the statement from the Wikimedia Foundation here). The blackout is a protest against proposed legislation in the United States—the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate—that, if passed, would seriously damage the free and open Internet, including Wikipedia.

 

[Brendan Burgess]

Hi ClubMan

This is a very interesting form of protest. We must bear it in mind if askaboutmoney ever sees fit to lend its name to a protest.

Brendan

 

[sustanon]

lend your name to this one.

 

[ClubMan]

This is a very interesting form of protest.

It has been done before by the way - e.g.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_World_Wide_Web_protest

 

[TarfHead]

I hope third-level institutions respond in kind by offering deferments of one day to projects due on Thursday ?

 

[sustanon]

it says the English Wikipedia, can't they use it as Gailge and get extra credit?

 

[ClubMan]

I hope third-level institutions respond in kind by offering deferments of one day to projects due on Thursday ?

http://twitter.com/#!/jimmy_wales/status/158971314449809409

 

[Ceist Beag]

Brendan this is being discussed on Boards since yesterday (here), should we try and raise awareness of it here as well? You can add a toolbar to the site (see [broken link removed]) if you agree with it.