A High Court ruling in the UK has quashed Wikipedia’s attempt to overturn part of the country’s divisive Online Safety Act. Judges dismissed the Wikimedia Foundation’s challenge to rules that could place the online encyclopaedia under the law’s strictest category of regulation.
I’m not an expert but I feel like organizations like Wikipedia that are not based in the UK and do not do business in the UK shouldn’t fight or comply with this nonsense. If the British government instructs ISPs to block access to Wikipedia, let them, and see the uproar it generates.
But we’re all weak willed and don’t do anything. We’re too used to the government doing stupid stuff and getting away with it. Even if we protest, nothing comes of it. We eventually just roll over and comply. It’s the the only thing I admire the French for.
I agree they should block all UK ip addresses and issue a disclaimer that this is due to the online safety act. Not being able to access the Wikipedia will make the citizens petition the government to repeal the act.
No, I think they should ignore it and let the British government do what they will. Again, they are not bound by UK legislation. Similarly they don’t block Chinese IPs because of censorship laws over there.
Agreed. I get that the mission of Wikipedia is to make information available to everyone and purposely cutting off a whole nation from their information goes against their mission. But sometimes Wikipedia should play hardball, and if the UK elected a government that wants to block Wikipedia then the people of the UK shouldn’t get Wikipedia. The people of the UK will need to elect a new government. Or get a VPN. Or both.