First appeared on MarketWatch
Wikipedia’s 24-hour blackout, to attempt to stop Internet
piracy legislation under consideration by the U.S. Congress, is a terrible
idea.
Wikipedia is only going to infuriate many of its users.
New-media entities like Wikipedia pride themselves on
offering services for free, unlike those evil capitalist, old-media fossils,
who would do anything for a lousy buck. This kind of attitude has helped
burnish Wikipedia’s public-spirited image.
Today, Wikpedia wants you and me to carry its water in its
bid against Washington. It’s hoping it has amassed so much good will that we’ll
blindly follow its lead. Hmmm.
Problem is, Wikipedia, ultimately, will hurt itself by this
act. For 24 hours, we citizens are being locked out. We’re being told, You
can’t use our service because we want to make a point. We want to show people,
by virtue of this move, exactly how important we are. You can’t do without us,
even for only one day.
That may well be 100% true, too.
But think about it from a completely different angle for a
moment: Who is Wikipedia helping by making this show of foolishness? Is it
enabling its users to live productive lives? Uh-uh. Is it making a contribution
to the world? Not exactly.
And will the decision to shut down actually make an
impression on the members of Congress? We’ll have to wait and see.
If Wikipedia really wanted to make a fuss, it would get its
users to stop making campaign contributions to the hostile Congress folks.
There is a move that would make an impression in Washington.
