Dear Friends, Wikipedia got shut down for 24 hours in a bid to protest SOPA and PIPA what it calls a threat to free access. The entire fracas started over a proposal of US federal legislations viz. Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect Intellectual Property Act (PIPA). What Wikipedia intends probably is to make aware it’s users on the value and significance to open access on Internet, but this move by Wiki sometime looks peevish as Wikipedia is such a service that has become an integral part of our knowledge society and its significance is much more deeper and I believe the way Wikipedia protested is not the right way as it only created inconvenience to the millions of people and user communities. Wikipedia is in itself a huge world of resource which by its very existence could have stood up to ignorance to the parallel legislative developments it feels irrelevant. There are certainly reasons to have concern over the issue as it is almost impossible for the sites to police over all the posts either text or video and determine if there is any violation in terms of copyright. That could probably be the reason that forced Wikipedia to act in such a manner as it is not just like a social networking site but something much more than that. It relies on a network of volunteers to update its website through its open-source platform. With the enactment of SOPA, Wikipedia could be held responsible for any information added to its website. The proposed legislation has provisions that would enforce sites to be closed if they find the accused sites are sharing information with someone else’s copyright. I accept the fact that owner’s right should be protected with given frames of intellectual property, but it is also true, this legislation, if passed by the Congress, is going to dramatically change the way the internet works today. Madhuryamay Das DRTC, ISI-Bangalore. -- This message has been scanned for viruses and dangerous content by MailScanner, and is believed to be clean.