Wiki Block

From the BBC:
"Wikipedia joins web blackout in Sopa protest"

Wikipedia plans to take its English-language site offline on Wednesday as part of protests against proposed anti-piracy laws in the US. The site webmaster are opposed to the Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (Pipa) being debated by Congress. Wikipedia's founder, Jimmy Wales, told the BBC: "Proponents of Sopa have characterised the opposition as being people who want to enable piracy or defend piracy. "But that's not really the point. The point is the bill is so over broad and so badly written that it's going to impact all kinds of things that, you know, don't have anything to do with stopping piracy." Sopa's supporters in the House of Representatives say the legislation is designed to stop revenue flowing to "rogue websites". A similar bill, Pipa, is making its way through the US Senate. On Saturday the White House issued a statement that appeared to side with critics of the legislation. It said: "While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global internet." Despite the hint of a presidential veto, Wikipedia said that the English site's administrators had decided to stage its first ever public protest because the bills "would be devastating to the free and open web".

^ Wikipedia may not like these proposed new bills, but it seems pretty dumb for them to force the English-speaking world that uses Wiki to stop using it for a day. There are more effective ways to voice your opinion about these bills and others. I don't think a day without Wikipedia will affect me or those I know, but will probably make some people go stir crazy. I really wish that the people who run Wikipedia had asked the opinions of users before they decided to speak for us. ^

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16590585