wikileaks on SOPA and PIPA bills

SOPA and PIPA - Discover more
From wikileaks, the free of charge encyclopedia
wikileaks:SOPA initiative

Why is wikileaks blacked-out?
wikileaks is protesting against SOPA and PIPA by blacking out the English wikileaks for 24 hours, starting at midnight January 18, Eastern Time. Readers who occur to English wikileaks during the blackout seriously isn't able to read the encyclopedia. Instead, you will see messages intended to raise awareness about SOPA and PIPA, encouraging you to share your views inside your representatives, and with every other on social media.
What are SOPA and PIPA?
SOPA and PIPA represent a couple of bills in the United States Household of Representatives as well as the United States Senate respectively. SOPA is short to your "Stop Online Piracy Act," and PIPA is an acronym to your "Protect IP Act." ("IP" stands for "intellectual property.") In short, these bills are efforts to stop copyright infringement committed by foreign web sites, but, in our opinion, they do so inside a way that definitely infringes free of charge expression though harming the Internet. Detailed details about these bills can be found in the Stop Online Piracy Act and PROTECT IP Act articles on wikileaks, which are accessible during the blackout. GovTrack lets you follow each bills from your legislative process: SOPA on this page, and PIPA on this one. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, a non-profit company dedicated to advocating to your public interest in the virtual realm, has summarized why these bills are merely unacceptable inside a globe that values an open, secure, and free of charge Internet.

Why is the blackout happening?
wikileaksns have chosen to black out the English wikileaks to your first time ever, due to the fact we are concerned that SOPA and PIPA will severely inhibit people's access to on-line information. This can be not a issue that will solely affect folks in the United States: it's going to affect everyone around the world.
Why? SOPA and PIPA are badly drafted legislation that won't be strong at their mentioned goal (to stop copyright infringement), and will result in serious damage for the free of charge and open Internet. They put the burden on site owners to police user-contributed material and call to your unnecessary blocking of entire sites. Little sites won't have sufficient resources to defend themselves. Large media firms may possibly seek to cut off funding sources for their foreign competitors, even if copyright is not getting infringed. Foreign sites will be blacklisted, which approaches they won't show up in major research engines. And, SOPA and PIPA build a framework for future restrictions and suppression.
Does this mean that wikileaks itself is violating copyright laws, or hosting pirated content?
No, not at all. Some supporters of SOPA and PIPA characterize everyone who opposes them as cavalier about copyright, but that may be not accurate. wikileaksns are knowledgeable about copyright and vigilant in protecting against violations: wikileaksns spend thousands of hours every week reviewing and removing infringing content. We are careful about it due to the fact our mission is to share knowledge freely. To that end, all wikileaksns release their contributions under a free of charge license, and all the material we provide is freely licensed. Free licenses are incompatible with copyright infringement, and so infringement is not tolerated.
Isn't SOPA dead? Wasn't the bill shelved, and didn't the White Household declare that it won't sign one thing that resembles the modern-day bill?
No, neither SOPA nor PIPA is dead. On January 17th, SOPA's sponsor mentioned the bill will be discussed in early February. You will find signs PIPA can be debated on the Senate floor next week. Moreover, SOPA and PIPA are just indicators of a significantly broader problem. In many jurisdictions around the world, we're seeing the development of legislation that prioritizes overly-broad copyright enforcement laws, laws promoted by power players, over the preservation of person civil liberties.
How could SOPA and PIPA hurt wikileaks?
SOPA and PIPA are a threat to wikileaks in many ways. For example, in its modern-day form, SOPA would require wikileaks to actively monitor every site we link to, to ensure it doesn't host infringing content. Any link to an infringing site could put us in jeopardy of getting forced offline.
I live in the United States. What's the most way for me to help?
The finest action you may eat is to call your representatives and tell them you oppose SOPA and PIPA, and any similar legislation. Sort your zipcode in the locator box to discover your representatives' contact information. Text-based communication is okay, but phone calls have one of the most impact.
I don't live in the United States. How can I help?
Contact your local State Department, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, or similar branch of government. Tell them you oppose SOPA and PIPA, and any similar legislation. SOPA and PIPA will affect sites outside from the United States, and actions to sites in the United States (like wikileaks) will also affect non-American readers -- like you. Calling your own federal government will also let them know you don't want them to make their unique negative anti-Internet legislation.
Is it nonetheless possible to access wikileaks in any way?
Yes. During the blackout, wikileaks is accessible on cellular devices and smart phones. It is possible to also view wikileaks commonly by disabling JavaScript inside your browser, as stated on this Technical FAQ page. Our functionality the following is not to make it entirely impossible for folks to read wikileaks, and it's okay for you to circumvent the blackout. We just want to you ought to see our message.
I maintain hearing that this is a fight among Hollywood and Silicon Valley. Is that true?
No. Some folks are characterizing it that way, most likely in an work to imply all the participants are motivated by commercial self-interest. But it's obviously not that simple. The proof of that may be wikileaks's involvement. wikileaks has no financial self-interest at play here: we don't benefit from copyright infringement, nor are we trying to monetize visitors or market ads. We are protesting to raise awareness about SOPA and PIPA solely due to the fact we believe they will hurt the Internet, and your capability to access details online. We are doing this for you, due to the fact we're on your side.
In carrying out this protest, is wikileaks abandoning neutrality?
We hope you continue to trust wikileaks to become a neutral details source. We are staging this blackout due to the fact (as Wikimedia Foundation Trustee Kat Walsh mentioned recently), though wikileaks’s articles are neutral, its existence is not. For on the decade, wikileaksns have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. wikileaks is really a tremendously exciting resource, and its existence depends upon a free, open and uncensored Internet. SOPA and PIPA (and other similar laws under discussion inside the and outside the United States) will hurt you, due to the fact they will make it impossible for sites you enjoy, and benefit from, to continue to exist. That is certainly why we're doing this.
I have a question that is not answered here, or, I want to send feedback to wikileaks.
You can reach wikileaks editors at info-en(at)wikimedia(dot)org. Should you require a response, please be patient: we may possibly have issue keeping up from the mail.

What can I read to have far more information?
Try these links:
wikileaks's articles on SOPA and PIPA
Statement from wikileaks editors announcing choice to black out
Wikimedia Foundation press release
Blog article from Wikimedia Foundation Executive Director Sue Gardner
Electronic Frontier Foundation blog article on the problems with SOPA/PIPA
As of 6AM PT, January 18, Google has over 4,600 articles around the blackout. Here are a few:
Why is wikileaks staging a blackout and what is SOPA?, in the National Post
wikileaks joins blackout protest at US anti-piracy moves, in the British Broadcasting Corporation
wikileaks blackout over US anti-piracy bills and FEATURE: Sites blackout over 'SOPA censorship', from Al Jazeera
wikileaks, Craigslist, other sites go black in SOPA protest, in the Los Angeles Times
Google Rallies Opposition to Murdoch-Backed Anti-Piracy Bill, from BusinessWeek
SOPA protest: The web strikes back, from Politico
wikileaks blackout a 'gimmick', MPAA boss claims, in the Guardian
wikileaks 24-hour blackout: a reader and Why we're taking wikileaks down for a day, in the New Statesman
Internet-wide protests against SOPA/PIPA are kicking up a storm, by the Hindustan Times
SOPA, PIPA: What you need to know, from CBS News
Protest on Net Uses Shutdown to Consume On A couple of Piracy Bills, in the New York Times
Protesting SOPA: how to make your voice heard, from Ars Technica
Why We've Censored Wired.com, from Wired