Wikipedia Joins Tomorrow’s SOPA Blackout
MSNBC blogger Bob Sullivan reports that Wikipedia has joined tomorrow’s SOPA Blackout.
Numerous sites have already confirmed their participation in this protest against the Stop Online Piracy Act as concerns mount with the extradition of TVShack co-creator Richard O’Dweyer to the United States.
UPS to Expand in Atlantic Canada
UPS will be expanding their Canadian network, this time in the Atlantic provinces.
“UPS will begin to perform pickup and delivery services for its customers in Moncton and Halifax beginning in April 2012, replacing its current agent. Additional cities in the Atlantic provinces will be added to the network later in the year.” – November 2011 Press Release
Radio Canada Television reports that the additional cities are Fredericton and Saint John in New Brunswick, Sydney and New Glasgow in Nova Scotia, Charlottetown in PEI and St. John’s in Newfoundland.
The company had previously partnered with a local courier to service these provinces.
White House Will Not Support SOPA/PIPA
An official statement from the White House was published yesterday and it appears that the White House will NOT be supporting the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act :
“While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet.”
This comment was left in response to two petitions against these acts.
SOPA Protests Scheduled For Jan 18th
Several American sites have decided to go dark on January 18th to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act, a controversial piece of legislation that has been introduced into the House Of Representatives in the United States.
Reddit, Red 5 Studios, the Chezburger sites, Major League Gaming, Sonicretro, Gog.com, Minecraft/Mojang.com, xda-developers.com, Platform Nation, Dark Legacy Comic and TuCows (my registrar) are the first to confirm their participation. And this list of sites will likely expand as more confirmed opponents decide to participate.
Click here to read a joint statement against SOPA from AOL Inc., eBay Inc., Facebook Inc., Google Inc., LinkedIn Corporation, Mozilla Corp., Twitter, Inc.,Yahoo! Inc. and Zynga Game Network.
Government Spam Reporting Center Almost Here
The government’s spam reporting center is on it’s way, according to Postmedia News.
Unsolicited commercial emails, faxes and calls have been illegal in Canada since 2010 but enforcement has yet to kick in. This center will handle complaints in regards to this activity.
SOPA Protests Threatened
A new year is about to begin and protests against the Stop Online Piracy Act are being organized.
Amazon.com has joined with Google, eBay, Paypal, Twitter, Facebook, Wikipedia, Bloomberg and numerous other companies and individuals in founding NetCoalition, an organization dedicated to opposing SOPA. And there have been numerous media accounts about the possibility of self imposed black-outs by NetCoalition members.
According to Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales, a similar protest by the Italian version of Wikipedia had been successful in thwarting an Italian law that would have limited editorial independence. But it appears that this protest may be limited according to Wales :
“My own view is that a community strike was very powerful and successful in Italy and could be even more powerful in this case. There are obviously many questions about whether the strike should be geotargeted (U.S.-only), etc.”
If these protests are geotargeted Canadians will be able to access the sites, as usual. But Wales claims that a blackout of the English version of Wikipedia is being considered :
“One possible view is that because the law would seriously impact the functioning of Wikipedia for everyone, a global strike of at least the English Wikipedia would put the maximum pressure on the US government.”
The date of this protest has yet been published but several media outlets and blogs speculate that it may be scheduled for the 24th of January, when the United States Senate vote on the Protect IP Act.