Wikipedia to shut down for 24 hours

AUSTRALIANS will be without Wikipedia from 4pm this Wednesday, for 24 hours.

In what it calls “an unprecedented decision”, Wikipedia has chosen to black out its English version for 24 hours in protest against proposed legislation in the United States which it says will harm the free and open internet and bring about new tools for censorship of international websites inside the United States.

A statement from Wikipedia administrators reads:

“Over the course of the past 72 hours, over 1800 Wikipedians have joined together to discuss proposed actions that the community might wish to take against SOPA and PIPA [Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the U.S. House of Representatives, and PROTECTIP (PIPA) in the U.S. Senate].

“This is by far the largest level of participation in a community discussion ever seen on Wikipedia, which illustrates the level of concern that Wikipedians feel about this proposed legislation.

“The overwhelming majority of participants support community action to encourage greater public action in response to these two bills.

“Of the proposals considered by Wikipedians, those that would result in a ‘blackout’ of the English Wikipedia, in concert with similar blackouts on other websites opposed to SOPA and PIPA, received the strongest support.”

Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales said:

“Today Wikipedians from around the world have spoken about their opposition to this destructive legislation.

“This is an extraordinary action for our community to take – and while we regret having to prevent the world from having access to Wikipedia for even a second, we simply cannot ignore the fact that SOPA and PIPA endanger free speech both in the United States and abroad, and set a frightening precedent of Internet censorship for the world.”

Wikimedia Foundation executive director Sue Gardner said she hoped people would understand the shutdown is to benefit readers.

“We support everyone’s right to freedom of thought and freedom of expression,” she said, “We think everyone should have access to educational material on a wide range of subjects, even if they can’t pay for it.

“We believe in a free and open Internet where information can be shared without impediment. We believe that new proposed laws like SOPA—and PIPA, and other similar laws under discussion inside and outside the United States—don’t advance the interests of the general public.”