Wikipedia Anti-SOPA Global Blackout: Striking Against Censorship

The message you are greeted with on 16, 2012 on Wikipedia, before the anti SOPA global protest starts.

WIKIPEDIA anti-SOPA blackout

Protests from the middle east Arab Spring to zuccotti park and now the largest online protest in history to start the new year 2012. So what is SOPA? Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as House Bill 3261 or H.R. 3261

$94 million on lobbying efforts

Gary Shapiro author of “The Comeback: How Innovation Will Restore the American Dream.”  writes: Over $94 million has been spent on lobbying efforts. Consider the disparate groups unified against this effort:

• Since when do Tea Party leaders (Reps. Michelle Bachman and Ron Paul) appear on the same side as Moveon.org?
• Since when do Sens. Ron Wyden (D -OR), Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Jerry Moran (R-KS), Rand Paul (R-KY) collectively vow to block any unanimous consent request to consider the bill? They said they’re concerned about the cybersecurity implications of the bill and fear it would lead to decreased investment in Internet startups.
• Since when does the conservative Republican Rep. Darrell Issa join with the liberal Democrat Rep. Zoe Lofgren to ask House members to oppose a bill?
• The legislation is so bad that even the ultra-pro-copyright group Business Software Alliance has withdrawn its support for the bill.

The American people have woken up to the harm the bill would do to innovation, the First Amendment and the Internet itself. A more helpful approach has been suggested by several legislators from both Houses and parties. It would rely on the impartial International Trade Commission to stop offending websites.

Wikipedia's Message

Imagine a World
Without Free Knowledge

For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia. Learn more. Contact your representatives.

Readers trust Wikipedia because they know that despite its faults, Wikipedia’s heart is in the right place. It’s not aiming to monetize their eyeballs or make them believe some particular thing, or sell them a product. Wikipedia has no hidden agenda: it just wants to be helpful.

That’s less true of other sites. Most are commercially motivated: their purpose is to make money. That doesn’t mean they don’t have a desire to make the world a better place – many do! – but it does mean that their positions and actions need to be understood in the context of conflicting interests.

Why is this a global action, rather than US-only? And why now, if some American legislators appear to be in tactical retreat on SOPA?

The reality is that we don’t think SOPA is going away, and PIPA is still quite active. Moreover, SOPA and PIPA are just indicators of a much broader problem. All around the world, we’re seeing the development of legislation intended to fight online piracy, and regulate the Internet in other ways, that hurt online freedoms.

Obama Administration Responds to We the People Petitions on SOPA and Online Piracy

The White House has responded to two petitions about legislative approaches to combat online piracy. In their response, Victoria Espinel, Intellectual Property Enforcement Coordinator at Office of Management and Budget, Aneesh Chopra, U.S. Chief Technology Officer, and Howard Schmidt, Special Assistant to the President and Cybersecurity Coordinator for National Security Staff stress that the important task of protecting intellectual property online must not threaten an open and innovative internet.