My daughter, a freshman in high school, related today that Thursday morning, she was unable to pass an assignment because Wikipedia was down the night prior. It turned out all her other classmates were unable to do their research work for the same reason.
The teacher then was compelled to tell them, “Pass your work tomorrow then.” Just goes to show that indeed, Wikipedia is the biggest free encyclopedia today.
One student quipped, “Now that Wikipedia won’t help, I think homework should be banned from schools.” The statement earned peals of laughter, catcalls, clapping and stamping of foots from the other students.
It so happened the principal was making her rounds that particular moment in time. The class earned a scolding as a result.
SOPA postponed indefinitely
In a CNNMoney report, it’s been confirmed: SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act), two controversial anti-piracy bills, had been postponed indefinitely.
This came as a result of Internet sites, including Wikipedia and Reddit, launching an Internet blackout on Wednesday, January 18, and protesters flocking to the streets of New York, San Francisco, Seattle and Washington D.C. Search engine juggernaut Google, for its part, drew more than 7 million signatures for its anti-SOPA and PIPA campaign.
In a prepared statement, Congressman Lamar Smith from the 21st District of Texas, author of SOPA, said: “I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns. It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves.”
United we stand, divided we fall
Just weeks ago, these two bills, SOPA and PIPA, were perceived to be unstoppable. But following the unprecedented all-out war the online community declared last week, it’s clear that not even the U.S. Congress can necessarily tower over a public that’s been unified by free and direct communication on the Internet.
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ralph says
this is great news for the web industry… there’s a lot of solution to a problem… they just need to look for something that can’t create more problems than its intended purpose. Yahweh bless. http://trunklocker.blogspot.com/2012/01/holiday-for-2012-chinese-new-year.html
Maricel says
Amen to that. Last I heard, Congressman Lamar Smith is working on another bill, one against child pornography.
Herbert says
Good thing its dead. 😀 I can now continue with my leeching stuff
dustinthewind says
Good thing they are slowing down right now, but for how long… they attack without notice, shutting down sites without the consent of the owner… they are just waiting for the perfect timing… wikileaks right now has almost zero funds, thanks to SOPA… who’s next Wikipedia? Facebook?
http://dustent.blogspot.com/
Maricel says
Dustin, how long is the question of the day, isn’t it?
dustinthewind says
@mommy maricel, anu daw? d ko na gets, hehe
Maricel says
Dustin, sorry about that. Bad case of the brain working faster than the fingers. LOL. In your prior question, you were asking HOW LONG the slowing down will go. And my reply was, “the question of the day,” seemed to me, given the fact that we all don’t know the answer apparently, “HOW LONG.” 😀
Maricel says
Herbert, your comment made me nervous for a moment there. LOL. It turned up in the spam folder, and I had to ponder whether or not to publish it. Might be because of the L stuff you mentioned. I bet you owe my readers a bit of an explanation there. 😀