I wonder why Wikipedia does not ban access from the UK due to this ruling ? I think doing that will get them an exemption rather quickly.
I don't think any movement like that has worked yet.
Wikipedia loses challenge against Online Safety Act
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Re: Wikipedia loses challenge against Online Safety Act
#182Wikipedia has been introduced as the encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Anyone can publish problematic material or false information. But it's also Wikipedia's greatest strength that it has been so open to basically everyone and that gave us a wide range of really good articles that rivaled the Encyclopedia Britannica.
Wikipedia is a product of the free internet. It is a product of a world that many politicians still don't understand. But those politicians still make laws that do not make sense, because they believe that something has to be done against those information crimes. And they also do it to score brownie points with their conservative voting base.
The internet has it's problems, no doubt about that. But what these laws do is to throw the baby out with the bath water. Actually, the water probably stays in, because it's not like those laws solve anything.
Re: Wikipedia loses challenge against Online Safety Act
#183i run a pretty large wiki, few mill users a month, and will be ignoring these laws. i'm from the US for reference.
Re: Wikipedia loses challenge against Online Safety Act
#184Earlier quoted context omitted.
They did do that once, https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3477966 ( "Wikipedia blackout page (wikipedia.org)" (2012)) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protests_against_SOPA_and_PIPA... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative
Yet this looks nothing like their reaction to SOPA and PIPA. They even explicitly state that Wikimedia is not against the legislation on the whole. > The Wikimedia Foundation shares the UK government’s commitment to promoting online environments where everyone can safely participate. The organization is not bringing a general challenge to the OSA as a whole, nor to the existence of the Category 1 duties themselves. R…
> Where did their conscience go?
Aaron Swartz is no longer with us.
* https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aaron_Swartz#Opposition_to_the...
Re: Wikipedia loses challenge against Online Safety Act
#185The Online Safety Act is a hideous piece of legislation. I hope Wikipedia block the UK. (I am a UK citizen).
Act like an authoritarian regime, get treated like other authoritarian regimes.
Re: Wikipedia loses challenge against Online Safety Act
#186I wonder why Wikipedia does not ban access from the UK due to this ruling ? I think doing that will get them an exemption rather quickly.
>I think doing that will get them an exemption rather quickly.
Some of us prefer civilization, though.
Re: Wikipedia loses challenge against Online Safety Act
#187Wikipedia has been introduced as the encyclopedia that anyone can edit. Anyone can publish problematic material or false information. But it's also Wikipedia's greatest strength that it has been so open to basically everyone and that gave us a wide range of really good articles that rivaled the Encyclopedia Britannica. Wikipedia is a product of the free internet. It is a product of a world that many politicians still…
I feel that the left and the right are tag teaming on this topic. Both sides want to track who says what on the internet for their own purposes.
Re: Wikipedia loses challenge against Online Safety Act
#188Earlier quoted context omitted.
Is it "democratic" when both parties agree on everything of substance and elections don't change anything no matter who wins? Because that's how "democracy" has worked in the UK for at least as long as I've been alive. Also, no-one asked for this bill, both parties support it, it received basically no debate or scrutiny and was presented as a fait accompli. Where's the democracy exactly?
There are any number of criticisms I would happily join you in directing at the British parliamentaey system but I don't think relying on American businesses to pressure the government would actually be the win for democracy you seem to suggest?
I didn't say anything prescriptive, I'm just disputing your use of the word "democratic".
Re: Wikipedia loses challenge against Online Safety Act
#189Earlier quoted context omitted.
> Wikimedia should block UK access. That will get the attention of media and popularity contest politicians might change their mind. Or they could respect the democratic decisions of the countries they do business in? I'm quite critical of the implementation of this legislation but the idea of an American company throwing their weight around trying to influence policy decisions in the UK gives me the ick. Fair enough…
> Or they could respect the democratic decisions of the countries they do business in? Well, the OSA was put into law by the Tories in 2023. The democratic decision of the UK was that they resoundingly rejected what the Tories were doing in the landslide win for Labour in the 2024 GE. I'd quite like UKGOV to respect the democratic decisions of the country and if they won't, I'm quite happy for other people to push ba…
The Tories' loss had nothing to do with what anybody thought of the OSA, a bill which most people hadn't heard of until last week.
But you already knew that.
Re: Wikipedia loses challenge against Online Safety Act
#190Earlier quoted context omitted.
There are any number of criticisms I would happily join you in directing at the British parliamentaey system but I don't think relying on American businesses to pressure the government would actually be the win for democracy you seem to suggest?
I didn't say anything prescriptive, I'm just disputing your use of the word "democratic".
For all it's issues I think you would be hard pressed to argue that the United Kingdom isn't a democracy in the common sense of the term.