Today Wikipedia has a blackout. This is because US is passing a law that can threaten open Internet.

Please read all about the SOPA blackout in the Wikipedia article. I have signed a petition against SOPA and I am fully concerned about what this could mean to Internet.

Wikipedia is main source of information for me and when googling around I hit Wikipedia dozens of times a day. I would not even like to think about what it would be like if Wikipedia would be blocked, because of linking to webpages that, among other things, contained some alleged pirated materials.

Now what?

Having said all this and having already put in my 2 cents, I now have work to do and this blackout is hindering my progress, even if for just one day. Fortunately Wikipedia has not removed itself from Internet. It only has drawn a black blanket over it’s contents. So, after viewing this black page and dedicating a few (milli)seconds to think about the consequences of SOPA, tech-savvy people can still reach the articles and make use of them.

NOTE: This post is not about avoiding Wikipedia blackout. This post is about getting work done, after you have signed some anti-SOPA petition or written a letter of concern to the US Senate or your own Ministry of Foreign Affairs if you live outside US.

Desopafy

There are several ways to still access Wikipedia today. Wikipedia itself has pointed out that mobile Wikipedia is still accessible and as the blackout is JavaScript-based, disabling JavaScript, will avoid the blackout too. But being JavaScript based, the blackout can also be reversed with JS. My initial code was a bit crude, so I googled around and found a more thorough version (thanks timraymond and kballenegger). Add this link to your bookmarks (or drag it to your bookmark bar):

Desopafy_Wikipedia

This bookmarklet will hide the blackout and show the Wikipedia article. But please, do at least think of what this blackout means, before you remove it.