[Wikimedia-l] Russian Wikipedia goes on strike

[Tim Starling]

On 10/07/12 18:22, Thomas Morton wrote:
> Unless I am missing something key; whilst this is a crappy law, it is not
> much like SOPA/PIPA in that it doesn't seem to threaten the existence of
> Russian Wikipedia.

SOPA didn't threaten the existence of Wikipedia, and neither did the
proposed law in Italy (DDL intercettazioni).

China's block of Wikipedia certainly threatened our educational
mission in that country. I took a stand against it when it was
introduced -- I wrote guides to firewall evasion, I talked to Jimmy
about measures we could take, and I spoke about it on an Australian
radio program.

SOPA and DDL intercettazioni were a negligible threat by comparison.
That's why I didn't support the strike actions. I understand the need
to fight to maintain what freedoms we have, but I don't approve of the
method used.

Residents of the US and Italy are lucky that they can protest against
such proposed laws without fear of reprisals from the state. That's a
luxury that the brave protesters in China did not have.

I don't know enough about the situation in Russia to comment on it.

-- Tim Starling