Thursday, January 19, 2012

wikimedia black-out day

Those who visit the English version of wikipedia today will find a protest message instead about two new US Congressional bills intended superficially to combat piracy but which have implications that are dracronian.  The Internet as a whole is really one big digital file sharing operation - you can't view a webpage without downloading its files, and despite the commercial usages, most of it has non-commercial educational intent. But under these proposed laws if you even link to a webpage that someone complains about, your site could be shut down, so the implications for freedom of speech are big.  Wikipedia's info webpage

No comments: