Wikipedia Co-Founder Considering Blackout in Response to Anti-Piracy Act

@Kb Cash: This is exactly why a blackout, or at least a click-through "blackout", might be justified: people like you that aren't looking at the secondary consequences of the SOPA bill.

Opposing SOPA is *by no means* the same as supporting piracy. Your comment is insulting in its naïveté. As a Wikipedian, I support measures to reduce piracy! I'm sure Wales shares that sentiment.

The problem with SOPA is not that it combats piracy (good) but that it endangers the function of legitimate websites, like Wikipedia, as a consequence of the measures that it uses to combat piracy (bad).

While Wikipedia already does extensive self-searches for copyright violations, under SOPA these would not be enough, as a single unidentified copyright violation would be enough to expose Wikipedia to liability or government censorship. It overrides the current requirement that the site be notified first, allowing it to avoid liability as long as the mentioned infringement is quickly removed.

SOPA has broader implications for free speech as well, and as it affects the international Internet, even I, here in Montreal, would likely be affected by a U.S. system of Web censorship.

Again, the issue is not combatting piracy—that's a decent cause—but rather that the other effects of SOPA are stifling to free speech and endangers sites that operate completely in good faith with regard to copyrights.