All,
Just a followup email to let you know that the English Wikipedia community
have decided on an action for the English Wikipedia with regard to the SOPA
and PROTECT acts. The English Wikipedia will be blacked out, worldwide, from
5am GMT on 18 January. The blackout will last for roughly 24 hours. There's
a timer counting down at
http://www.worldtimebuddy.com/event?lid=0
<http://www.worldtimebuddy.com/event?lid=0&h=0&sts=22114080&sln=5-6&a=show&e
uid=2a1130f2-81f4-e3c4-7d37-0a1c1001632d>
&h=0&sts=22114080&sln=5-6&a=show&euid=2a1130f2-81f4-e3c4-7d37-0a1c1001632d.
If you get any UK press interest, forward them to Jon and me in the office
on 020 7065 0990, or to press(a)wikimedia.org.uk. We have a few volunteers
with press experience who will be helping out, too (many thanks to them,
they know who they are!) Bear in mind that tomorrow will be extremely busy
in the WMF and WMUK offices, even though Wikipedia itself will be down. The
key points to remember are:
. It's the community who decided to do this - not a decree from
Jimmy or the WMF, and not Wikimedia UK. We all support the decision of the
community, however - we're all in this together
. These acts are something that will hurt the freedom of information
globally, even though they're (on the surface) US laws. This may well affect
every .com, .org or .net site worldwide
. Non-English Wikipedias may (or may) be blacking out, depending on
the views of their individual communities
If you have any major problems over the course of the next 48 hours, or a
press query, please get in touch. And if you're looking for something to do,
Commons isn't being blacked out, and I imagine that there is a fair
categorisation backlog.
All the best,
Richard Symonds
Office & Development Manager
Wikimedia UK
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