‘Happy Black Wikipedia Day’
Apparently Wikipedia (along with Google) doesn’t like the Internet piracy bill presented in the US Congress. The SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) & PIPA (Protect Intellectual Property Act), according to Wikipedia will impose unfair responsibilities on websites such as themselves to check that no material they host infringes copyright. Under current laws if websites remove pirated content when they are notified by the copyright holder they are not liable for damages.
Wikipedia is the 6th most visited website in the month. The daily Wikipedia users equates to the population of London , Beijing & Moscow Texas congressman Lamar Smith in October with the support of a bipartisan group of Democrats and Republicans but was immediately set upon by opponents who claimed it violated America
But then question arises where does the right being and piracy end? Free flow of information is good, but should it come at the cost of the owner of the material? Watching a family video posted by an amateur is free fun that doesn’t harm anyone, even the owner, but watching a multi-million dollar movie free of cost, without the consent of the owner is harmful.
I do agree with respecting the copy rights and especially the government secrets. I don’t know how this bill confronts the issue of releasing the state secrets, but I hope it tackles it. I didn’t like what Julian Assanage did with the help of wikipedia, releasing the US
Also, just a small note…it is expected that there won’t be any assignment or home work submitted in schools & colleges today since Wikipedia is down!!
