Press Releases/2012/ English Wikipedia to go dark for 24 hours

English Wikipedia to go dark for 24 hours

Bangalore, January 18, 2012 : The global community of volunteers who edit the English Wikipedia has decided to support the protest against the introduction of the “Stop Online Piracy Act” (SOPA) in the US House of Representatives and the “Protect IP Act” in the US Senate.[1] To that end, the English Wikipedia will be blacked out globally for a period of 24 hours on 18 January 2012. The black out has been implemented by the Wikimedia Foundation and has commenced since 10.30am IST. It will last until 10.30am IST tomorrow.

A press release from the Wikimedia Foundation states that “if passed, this legislation will harm the free and open Internet and bring about new tools for censorship of international websites inside the United States.” [2] [3]

Wikipedia is a unique and path-breaking volunteer driven effort to provide every single person on the planet with free access to the sum of all human knowledge. The Wikimedia Foundation (USA) is a non-profit organization which operates Wikipedia and other Wikimedia projects.

The Wikimedia chapter in India aims to educate and to promote the awareness of the availability and use of free and open educational content, and its advancement among the general public. The chapter also supports building capacities of individuals and institutions to access, develop and contribute to free and open educational resources.

The Wikimedia chapter is an autonomous entity that does not have any editorial control over content on Wikipedia and its related projects. The Wikipedia project is a volunteer-led movement and country-specific Wikimedia chapters do not have a role in the community decision making process.

The Wikimedia Chapter encourages and wants the internet to remain open and free and knowledge to be accessible to all humans.

Notes: 
 * [1] English Wikipedia Community decision :
 * [2] The official Press Release from the Wikimedia Foundation
 * [3] Blog post from Sue Gardner, Executive Director, Wikimedia Foundation

--- About Wikimedia India Chapter

The Wikimedia Chapter is a registered non-profit Society vide Registrar of Societies, Bangalore, India. The Wikimedia India Chapter (Registered Name: Wikimedia Chapter) is an independent and not-for-profit organization that supports, promotes and educate the general Indian public about the availability and use of free and open educational content, which includes the ability to access, develop and contribute to encyclopedias, dictionaries, books, images, etc.

Trademarks

Wikipedia and Wikimedia are registered trademarks of the Wikimedia Foundation.  For more information (press only):

Tinu Cherian Wikimedia India Chapter press@wikimedia.in