World without Wiki

Wikipedia’s decision to take a stand against US anti-piracy legislation has brought criticism from some of its own editors, who think such action threatens the site’s credibility and neutrality, says Mike Liedtke

CAN the world live without Wikipedia for a day? The shutdown of one of the internet’s most-visited sites is not sitting well with some of its volunteer editors, who say the protest of US anti-piracy legislation could threaten their credibility of their work.

“My main concern is that it puts the organisation in the role of advocacy, and that’s a slippery slope,” said editor Robert Lawton, a Michigan computer consultant who would prefer that the encyclopedia stick to being a neutral repository of knowledge. “Before we know it, we’re blacked out because we want to save the whales.”