English Wikipedia anti-SOPA blackout [telecom]

I was hoping that they - and many others - would consider implementing a permanent block of access from IP addresses assigned to Congress. Yes, I know that's not a simple as it sounds, but even an imperfect implementation would force many on Capitol Hill to use circumvention techniques in order to access some of the internet's content.

***** Moderator's Note *****

That's a great idea. I'd expand it to have Google delete all search results that point to the Congress, or (better yet) redirect them to public-interest sites that expose some massive pork barrel in the relevant district.

Bill Horne Moderator

I don't think we want to advocate censorship based on source because, no matter how gratifying such quid pro quo might be, it's just as wrong as SOPA and there is no need or, IMO, justification to inconvenience the American public who may need information published on those sites and have done nothing wrong to deserve interference.

[I will understand completely if you do not feel that this is sufficiently telecom-related to be published but I felt that the comment should be made.] ***** Moderator's Note *****

It's telecom related, because it touches on a profoundly important issue, which is the way the U.S. Congress is threatening to hand over censorship authority to private parties. By that logic, AT&T and Verizon and Centurylink might be allowed to censor phone calls that touch on "dangerous" issues or contain unpopular words, or just because they can.

All kidding aside, I am reminded of a warning that a very wise friend once gave me: "Nothing that you see on TV or read in the paper is ever what really happened." SOPA isn't about "Copyright protection": that's just the public face of a more scary reality.

As I wrote in my blog

I think SOPA is really a calling card, one that serves notice on the Internet's ruling class that the old-world Brahmins expect them to pay for front row seats at the Congressional Opera, and chip in to keep our favorite legislators well equipped with straw hats and stump speeches. In other words, SOPA is an extortion note, which says "That's a nice Internet you have there - be a shame if anything happened to it"!

Bill Horne Moderator