A monthslong legal battle between online encyclopedia Wikipedia’s parent company and Asian News International (ANI) raises concerns about free access to credible online information in the country
It sets an absolutely obscene precedent that a government can globally restrict information. Even global terrible actors like Russia and China haven’t succeeded at that.
Yes, that precedent is 1000 orders of magnitude more harm than India losing access (which they won’t, because the entirety of Wikipedia is open source and would be mirrored in the country instantly. But even if they actually would, it is literally impossible to get anywhere near the harm of the precedent this sets).
It sets an absolutely obscene precedent that a government can globally restrict information
Again, the information is still everywhere.
Even global terrible actors like Russia and China haven’t succeeded at that.
Actually, the Chinese Wikipedia used to have a systemic bias in favor of the CPC before China blocked it, after which the bias was changed.
because the entirety of Wikipedia is open source and would be mirrored in the country instantly
It’s a bit elitist to restrict information—weapons of revolution—to those who know how to find a mirror website. Why don’t you survey the Chinese nationals in-person to see if they know how to get on Wikipedia? Plus, to avoid block evasion, no mirrors would be able to edit Wikipedia.
It sets an absolutely obscene precedent that a government can globally restrict information. Even global terrible actors like Russia and China haven’t succeeded at that.
Yes, that precedent is 1000 orders of magnitude more harm than India losing access (which they won’t, because the entirety of Wikipedia is open source and would be mirrored in the country instantly. But even if they actually would, it is literally impossible to get anywhere near the harm of the precedent this sets).
Again, the information is still everywhere.
Actually, the Chinese Wikipedia used to have a systemic bias in favor of the CPC before China blocked it, after which the bias was changed.
It’s a bit elitist to restrict information—weapons of revolution—to those who know how to find a mirror website. Why don’t you survey the Chinese nationals in-person to see if they know how to get on Wikipedia? Plus, to avoid block evasion, no mirrors would be able to edit Wikipedia.