Dear Karpov Friends,

This morning my dear friend Mitto, from the Arabian Heart and Peace Loving World Citizens, alerted chess.com members through a forum post about U.S. proposed legislation to limit content on the web, and Wikapedia's response to this with a 24 hour blackout.  Since all of us on chess.com use the web, I wanted to let all of you in on the discussion and the action.  All of us will take Action.  Some of us will take the Action of ignoring, and some will take the Action of Protest, but the beautiful thing is, we get a choice.

The following statement is from Sue Gardner, executive director of Wikimedia,   taken from the Wikipedia website.  This more eloquently states what I would like to say myself.

..."Like Kat and the rest of the Wikimedia Foundation Board, I have increasingly begun to think of Wikipedia’s public voice, and the goodwill people have for Wikipedia, as a resource that wants to be used for the benefit of the public. Readers trust Wikipedia because they know that despite its faults, Wikipedia’s heart is in the right place. It’s not aiming to monetize their eyeballs or make them believe some particular thing, or sell them a product. Wikipedia has no hidden agenda: it just wants to be helpful.

That’s less true of other sites. Most are commercialy motivated: their purpose is to make money. That doesn’t mean they don’t have a desire to make the world a better place –many do!– but it does mean that their positions and actions need to be understood in the context of conflicting interests.

My hope is that when Wikipedia shuts down on January 18, people will understand that we’re doing it for our readers. We support everyone’s right to freedom of thought and freedom of expression. We think everyone should have access to educational material on a wide range of subjects, even if they can’t pay for it. We believe in a free and open Internet where information can be shared without impediment. We believe that new proposed laws like SOPA –and PIPA, and other similar laws under discussion inside and outside the United States– don’t advance the interests of the general public. You can read a very good list of reasons to oppose SOPA and PIPA here, from the Electronic Frontier Foundation.

Why is this a global action, rather than US-only? And why now, if some American legislators appear to be in tactical retreat on SOPA?

The reality is that we don’t think SOPA is going away, and PIPA is still quite active. Moreover, SOPA and PIPA are just indicators of a much broader problem. All around the world, we’re seeing the development of legislation intended to fight online piracy, and regulate the Internet in other ways, that hurt online freedoms. Our concern extends beyond SOPA and PIPA: they are just part of the problem. We want the Internet to remain free and open, everywhere, for everyone.

On January 18, we hope you’ll agree with us, and will do what you can to make your own voice heard.

Sue Gardner,
Executive Director

Take action: If you’re a US citizen, contact your representative to let them know you oppose SOPA and PIPA.

I am concerned about the "law of unintended consequences" here. Some technocrat in government thinks this is a good idea, and next thing we know, Congress passes a law they haven't read, that causes all sorts of difficulties. Not to get political here, but the repeal of Glass-Steagle set off a chain-reaction of events that led to the banking meltdown. SOPA might not be THAT exteme, but you get the idea.

It would be great if I was read what "SOPA Pipa"  I am just curious does it mean stuff like "PORN" or does it mean things like downloading mp3's illegally. Can someone post where I can read the contents?

www.google.com/search?aq=0&oq=SOPA%2F&sourceid=chrome&ie=UTF-8&q=sopa%2Fpipa