OK, I guess just about everyone knows about the Wikipedia black-out protest by Wikipedia.
But if you have not looked into it in detail, you should know that this protest against the restrictions they are concerned about (at least what I can figure out in the short time I looked at what is on the Wikipedia homepage now) is that the legislation/laws that they are thinking about (SOPA and PIPA) will require each website like Wikipedia, and BITOG and others to police their sites and that if someone post something on their site that is not appropriate (including a link to something that is not appropriate), then the entire site could be shut down.
Kind has me wondering if the restrictions that some other governments have and are trying to keep in place might be reaching across oceans to add restrictions here that make it easier to keep their restrictions in place.
I am all for keeping inappropriate material out of the view/access of those who should not see/access it. And the world may be a better place if some of it were entirely kept off of the internet. But from what is implied, the penalty of a total ban for something the provider of a web site did not generate, is a blind sucker punch that good sites do not deserve. I can see having additional policing requiring removal of some material if a site misses something, including increasing filtering for allowing review before allowing posting if a web site has an extreme amount of offenders. But there are limits to what the penalty should be, and a total shut down for a few missed post with respect to time, should not be something any policing of the internet has in their arsenal.
So, if you want to keep the freedom to have sites like Wikipedia, and BITOG, maybe you should log onto the Wikipedia homepage today and use their link to your Representatives and e-mail each of them with something like the following:
I am opposed to SOPA and PIPA, and the penalties and policing that it would place on websites that allow others to post information on them.
But if you have not looked into it in detail, you should know that this protest against the restrictions they are concerned about (at least what I can figure out in the short time I looked at what is on the Wikipedia homepage now) is that the legislation/laws that they are thinking about (SOPA and PIPA) will require each website like Wikipedia, and BITOG and others to police their sites and that if someone post something on their site that is not appropriate (including a link to something that is not appropriate), then the entire site could be shut down.
Kind has me wondering if the restrictions that some other governments have and are trying to keep in place might be reaching across oceans to add restrictions here that make it easier to keep their restrictions in place.
I am all for keeping inappropriate material out of the view/access of those who should not see/access it. And the world may be a better place if some of it were entirely kept off of the internet. But from what is implied, the penalty of a total ban for something the provider of a web site did not generate, is a blind sucker punch that good sites do not deserve. I can see having additional policing requiring removal of some material if a site misses something, including increasing filtering for allowing review before allowing posting if a web site has an extreme amount of offenders. But there are limits to what the penalty should be, and a total shut down for a few missed post with respect to time, should not be something any policing of the internet has in their arsenal.
So, if you want to keep the freedom to have sites like Wikipedia, and BITOG, maybe you should log onto the Wikipedia homepage today and use their link to your Representatives and e-mail each of them with something like the following:
I am opposed to SOPA and PIPA, and the penalties and policing that it would place on websites that allow others to post information on them.
