Scary times… scary times

Posted January 18, 2012 by homerj

Wikipedia will be taking down its English language site Wednesday 1/18/12 in protest of the Stop Online Piracy Act. Read more about Wikipedia’s decision on PCWorld.
Wikipedia joins Reddit and BoingBoing, who will also shut down on Wednesday in protest of the proposed legislation. The webmasters and founders of opponents to SOPA and PIPA agree that something needs to be done about internet piracy, but argue the bills in their current forms will enable the type censorship happening in Iran and China. Internet heavy-hitters such as Google, Facebook, Mozilla, Twitter, and Tumblr have also vocally opposed the legislation but none have committed to the blackout on Wednesday at this time.
“If you want an Internet where human rights, free speech and the rule of law are not subordinated to the entertainment industry’s profits, I hope you’ll join us,” said Cory Doctorow of Boing Boing.
Research Works Act:
The Committee on Oversight and Government Reform has introduced the “Research Works Act,” aimed at Open Access Policies that allows the public access to federally funded research. Under this Act, all projects funded by the NIH will no longer have to be freely accessible 12 months after acceptance for publication. This would not keep the funding from happening, it would just require one to purchase publicly funded research or subscribe to the journal it appears in. Read Information Today‘s explanation of the “Research Works Act” and what it will do to federally funded research written by GSLIS’ own Robin Peek.