WASHINGTON (PNN) - December 14, 2011 - Wikipedia may temporarily blank out its pages in self-sacrifice to draw attention to the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act. While the bill aims to protect copyrighted material, critics fear corporate manipulation could lead to greater censorship.
The Fascist Police States of Amerika lawmakers behind the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) say it would deal a blow to online pirates and producers of counterfeit brand products like designer fashion items or medicines.
The bill is intended to crack down on websites operating outside of the United States. If passed, the legislation would allow the FPSA government to shut down any site it believes is illegally hosting copyrighted content.
However, not everyone supports the move. Wikipedia is the latest to join internet industry giants in the fight to stop the bill from being pushed through the Senate.
Internet companies, the Consumer Electronics Association and others argue that the measure goes too far and the wording is too ambiguous.
Fearing that a medium based on the free sharing of information could be targeted, Wikipedia has chosen to fight back with a highly symbolic act. The “self-censorship” idea came to Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales after Italian Wikipedia blanked out its site a few months ago in an effort to oppose a law in the country that would infringe on their editorial independence.
“The Italian Parliament backed down immediately,” said Wales.
Google Chairman Eric Schmidt referred to the controversial legislation as a form of censorship."The solutions are draconian," he said. "There's a bill that would require Internet service providers to remove URLs from the web, which is also known as censorship last time I checked."
Whether Wikipedia’s strike tilt the scales in favor of online and electronics industry before the bill is rammed through in Washington, is yet unknown. However, blanking out one of the most visited sites, with billions of page views per month, will definitely send a strong message to lawmakers in Washington.
Maybe it will be just in time.
