True to their word a number of big name web giants have blacked out their sites for the day, joining thousands of worldwide protests concerned that federal attempts to lock down on piracy could have unreasonable backlash for responsible online service providers.
Wikipedia’s page briefly flashes on a normal encyclopedia entry — I searched “baboons” — before redirecting its United States users to a blacked out page urging viewers to contact their congressmen concerning the Protect IP Act (PIPA) and Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the Senate and House, respectively.
“Imagine a world without free knowledge… The US Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia.”
Similar protests are being waged countrywide.
According to The Oatmeal, an online comic, dealing with online pirates by censoring all online activity and forcing even legitimate businesses to monitor all content uploaded by its users is “like dealing with a lion that has escaped from the zoo by blasting some kittens with a flamethrower.”
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If you really need a blacked-out article: Do the search on Google but instead of clicking on the Wikipedia link, hover over the arrows to the right of the link you want, and click Google’s ‘Cached’ link.
One would think that the people that ran these sites would be able to read the law and see that it can only be used to stop activities that are already illegal where the service provider refuses to remove the violating content.
The isn’t censorship it is law enforcement.
There are already anti-piracy laws on the books. Congress needs to be deleting laws, not adding more.
10 minute Khan Academy video explaining the problem with SOPA/PIPA: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tzqMoOk9NWc