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Comment by lambada | Hacker News Reader

Is this US only, or is this going to take it offline for the whole internet? The article doesn't specify, but last I checked there was strong support for a US only blackout.

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@jimmy_wales : English only, but protest action is global for English.

Thanks, so en.wiki will be gone for the whole world.

Not sure how I feel about that as there is nothing non-US citizens can do.

They can complain on Twitter and Facebook which will raise awareness to their American friends who can do something about it.

If all non-US citizens that use the English Wikipedia had US citizen friends they could engage politically, US politics would look vastly different already.

They can proactively call their MP and tell them not to do what we are doing here in America.

If you really need info from Wikipedia, you can cache an offline version before the blackout. I like: http://offline-wiki.googlecode.com/git/app.html

But SOPA would affect us english speaking non-US people too, so raising awareness in the rest of the world is a good idea. We should be putting pressure on our own governments to a) not pass a SOPA-like law themselves and b) to not support the US in this, for example, Spain shouldn't cave into US pressure to pass a similar law.

It's English language Wikipedia. Which will affect people who SOPA doesn't affect.

I wish it was delibrately USA only. Then US policy makes can see how SOPA will not only "break the internet" but also put US citizens and groups at a disadvantage on the global stage. Maybe that might get their attention aswell?

For one, there are many instances of US laws being 'exported' via trade agreements and such like, so yes it does affect people outside.

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