Tuesday, January 17, 2012

Ways Around the Wikipedia Blackout

In case you haven't heard, Wikipedia, along with other large websites, are going "black" for twenty-four hours on Wednesday. This is to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act, or "SOPA," a bill which may very well end the internet as we know it. Wikipedia will go black, meaning that no one will be able to access the site.

If you want/need to view Wikipedia, you will face a problem, obviously, when the site goes down. However, using Google cache, you could very well side-step the blackout.

So let's say you're looking for... bagels on Wikipedia for some reason. On Google, all you have to do is search "Wikipedia" and whatever you wish to look up. So, enter "Wikipedia bagel" on Google.

To view the cached page, there are arrows on the side of the results. All you have to do is click/hover over the arrows, which will expand into a picture of a preview of the page. After this, just click "cached" and you'll be taken to the page that was cached by Google. Hopefully these pictures help (click on any/all the pictures for better resolution):
Arrows on the side
Cached
Bagels!
Additionally, Wikipedia is blacking out "English Wikipedia," which means that you can access Wikipedia in different languages. If you speak French or Spanish or whatever (or you have Google translate handy), you can access much of the same information.
Please bookmark!
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2 comments:

  1. Kyle BatesJanuary 18, 2012 at 12:14 AM

    You can also use the regular English version still by refreshing the page and hitting stop before the "Blackout" warning happens.

    ReplyDelete
  2. FindFiles.netJanuary 18, 2012 at 4:38 AM

    We support the blackout. Sopa is a danger for all search engines, like us. When collecting automatically data and information in the web, and offering them for the public for search purposes, it is technically impossible to scan all links for possible copyright violations.

    ReplyDelete

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