Comment by cmelbye
14 years ago
Seems really poorly implemented. Doesn't explain why it's blacked out in a concise manner, it was unable to look up the House rep for my zip code, it doesn't autolink Twitter, refers to the bills only as "SOPA" and "PIPA" and never actually uses the full names, certainly doesn't employ any innovative methods of getting people to call their reps like Tumblr did, etc...
"Doesn't explain why it's blacked out in a concise manner, it was unable to look up the House rep for my zip code"
Yeah, I couldn't see how to look up my house rep either. Probably because I don't have one, not living in the USA.
Why did they have to make this protest of US domestic politics international?
If a blackout of the English language Wikipedia affects you, then the destruction of the English language Wikipedia by US domestic politics would _also_ affect you, whether you like it or not.
I am unable to influence US politics. My point is not that SOPA would not affect me, but that I am unable to actually do anything about it. Thus, this protest is annoying, without achieving anything.
Google, far more sensibly, and with the understanding that domestic US protests are not relevant to the entire world, took the route of only blacking out their logo for US users.
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Western English speaking countries tend to copy each others legislation. SOPA passing in the US would make something similar easier to push through in Australia, Canada, etc.
Indeed they do, and if an English version comes through parliament I will appreciate protests from Wikipedia. However, as things are, this is disproportionate and unhelpful. Something like the HN approach of blacking out the logo would be far more appropriate for users outside the USA.