[maxklein]

I don't think this is a good idea. Wikipedia is an encyclopedia that many people depend on all over the world. Encyclopedias should not just switch off for political reasons. Books don't turn off. Digital information should not turn on and off either for any reason. A big red banner covering half the page can get the message across without actually making us unable to access the information stored in wikipedia.

[Karunamon]

>Encyclopedias should not just switch off for political reasons.

Characterizing this as a "political reason" does a huge disservice to what the events of the 18th are all about. This "political reason" has the potential to ruin the internet forever. The point of the blackout is to give people a taste of what could happen under SOPA/PIPA/etc. And get them to call their representatives, and get the word out.

Reddit and HN squawking about a law won't do much on its own. Getting the word out in a meaningful way, meaning impacting sites that the average (non-techie) joe would access, has the potential to be much, much more effective.

Something to the effect of "THIS COULD HAPPEN PERMANENTLY IF LAWS LIKE THIS PASS".

Between Cheezburger, WP, and some of the other sites out there, this is going to be a very, very interesting Wednesday.

If you want to help, take the complaining you're doing now and direct it at Congress (or your local equivalent if you're not in the USA). You can thank them for these shenanigans.

EDIT:

Keep in mind, even if you're not in the USA, this impacts you (and I don't just mean the blackout). So much of the internet's structure is located in the USA (IANA, ICANN, registrars, etc) that any bad legislation here has potentially global reach. SOPA/PIPA is a good example of such bad legislation.

[sriramk]

There are a lot of political issues that could ruin the internet forever. The example I've been throwing out in this thread - nuclear weapons. Could destroy all of humanity. Does Wikipedia step in to get all countries to destroy nuclear weapons?

How bad does some political issue have to be for Wikipedia to get involved? And note that SOPA is far down on the list of "universally thought of as evil for all humanity" things that people would like to see changed.

[Karunamon]

Nuclear weapons are not an immediate threat to the internet and Wikipedia's existence. SOPA/PIPA is.

[rehashed]

> Encyclopedias should not just switch off for political reasons.

I believe this is the point of the demonstration.

[cryptoz]

If SOPA passes, Wikipedia could be taken offline forever. Is that really a preferable situation?

Also, if you're that scared, you've been given fair warning. Download a copy for your archives, so you can keep using Wikipedia while it's offline.

[rmc]

No, if SOPA passes and Wikipedia is targeted, Wikipedia can move to another country. It's just the people in the USA who won't be able to access it (like people in other countries with national firewalls)

[CamperBob]

Somebody hasn't been paying attention.

[Zirro]

"Books don't turn off. Digital information should not turn on and off either for any reason."

Would SOPA care for those arguments?

[travisp]

>Encyclopedias should not just switch off for political reasons.

Even if that political reason threatens to shut off the encyclopedia?

[alexyim]

I disagree. It's unfair to label Wikipedia as simply an encyclopedia. It's much more than that - it's part of the Internet ecosystem.

A 24-hour blackout on only the English version of the site is fairly reasonable to raise awareness of an issue as important as SOPA.

[extension]

It's not politics, it's survival.

[jey]

I agree. Taking a stand and putting up a banner, or a click-through page, etc is fine. But information services like Google and Wikipedia shouldn't actually be shut off in a way that makes the information inaccessible.

[cryptoz]

> But information services like Google and Wikipedia shouldn't actually be shut off in a way that makes the information inaccessible.

And that's exactly what SOPA would do. Permanently. Nobody is preventing you from accessing today's Wikipedia content on your own this Wednesday - go download a copy of their db right now if you're that scared and fearful of a day without it. The point is a strong demonstration of what the world would be like with SOPA/PIPA. It's necessary.

[jey]

So shutting off information services is evil, and we're going to show it by committing the same evil? By that token we should teach everyone how bad genocide is by executing a random member of their family.

We should certainly get people's attention by doing something very overt like replacing every article with a big dark SOPA message, but there really should still be a way to click through to the information.

> We should certainly get people's attention by doing something very overt like replacing every article with a big dark SOPA message, but there really should still be a way to click through to the information.

That's fine for us mega-nerds, but what about everyone else?

[msg]

There's a philosophical distinction between suicide and murder and martyrdom. Just like there is between being thrust into a furnace and setting yourself on fire.

I actually don't know what it's going to be like to work on Wednesday without Wikipedia. But I think it's in all our interests to find out and put a face on these bills.

[cryptoz]

> By that token we should teach everyone how bad genocide is by executing a random member of their family.

Uh, no. That's not the same token at all.

[vincentmac]

Looks like we've reached Godwin's Law. That's didn't take too long.

[Karunamon]

<pedant intensity="100%">Godwin's law only covers the invocation of Hitler or the third reich, not random genocide.</pedant>

[vincentmac]

I strongly think Google, Facebook, Wikipedia, and Amazon (not AWS) should all proceed with the nuclear option on the 18th, even though congress has temporarily shelved SOPA. The reality of the situation is that very few people outside of the tech community have any idea about SOPA and PIPA and how it jeopardizes the Internet.