Summary of article from, The Financial Times, January 17 2012
Google has joined forces with Wikipedia and other US technology companies today to stage online protests against anti-piracy legislation, in the first co-ordinated political demonstration by many of the world’s most popular websites.
Wikipedia will begin a global blackout of its English-language sites today (see image), while Google will post a message on its US home page criticising the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect Intellectual Property Act currently being discussed in Congress. Wikipedia and Google are two of the five most visited sites on the web.
Google is likely to replace the logo on its homepage with a politically themed “Google Doodle”, to draw its millions of daily visitors’ attention to what it believes is a threat to freedom of speech. It is believed to be the first time the search-engine company has used its home page for a political cause.
“Like many businesses, entrepreneurs and web users, we oppose these bills because there are smart, targeted ways to shut down foreign rogue websites without asking American companies to censor the internet,” Google said. “So we will be joining many other tech companies to highlight this issue on our US home page.”
Technology companies, including Facebook and Google, say the laws hold them responsible for online activity they cannot control, and have the impact of censoring the internet and choking innovation.
Wordpress, the popular blogging platform provider, has also encouraged its 60m users to take action, through their websites and by calling their representatives.
Wikipedia’s action – which will prevent users from reading or editing any of the online encyclopedia’s English entries, but will leave the articles about the two pieces of legislation live – has drawn criticism from some in the technology world.
While Google will not participate in a full blackout, changing its Google Doodle is still a strong statement by the internet search giant. Wikipedia is a not-for-profit organisation, however, lost advertising of a total blackout of Google’s website would likely cost it millions of dollars.
