Wikipedia's Ten "Touchy" Topics

A BBC report today noted subjects that rile the good editors at Wikipedia. What are they? Let's take a look behind the Wiki curtain, shall we?

The dieci, as noted by the BBC story, are as follows:

• George W. Bush
• Anarchism
• The Prophet Muhammad
• World Wrestling Entertainment employees
• Global warming
• Circumcision
• The United States
• Jesus Christ
• Race and intelligence
• Christianity

Quite a mixture, eh?

Philip Roth Challenges Wikipedia Editors

Philip Roth at a Newark lunch counter
(photo by Bob Peterson, Time Life Pictures/Getty Images)

Philip Roth recently publicly chided Wikipedia for publishing misleading information relating to his novel The Human Stain. According to a BBC account of the incident, Wikipedia administrators refused to correct the inaccurate entry, claiming "they required a second source." Incredibly, the author of a work of fiction was deemed insufficiently qualified to get the record about his or her own novel straight. Wikipedia's administrators have apparently come around, after this very public black eye, and amended the controversial claims

The novelist's open letter appeared in The New Yorker and has generated considerable media interest. Roth's crisp prose and cogent line of reasoning in this piece are a pleasure to read.

Anti-SOPA, Anti-PIPA Web Blackout Starts Tonight

SOPA -- Are you pro or con?

Companies for whom the Internet is their lifeblood and their passion are initiating a 24-hour service blackout starting this evening. Their aim is to protest a House bill called SOPA -- the Stop Online Piracy Act -- and its Senate counterpart, PIPA. The bills are currently in their respective House and Senate committees.

Among the blackout leaders are Wikipedia, Mozilla, and Reddit. They'll be dark starting at 9 pm Pacific time. Other Silicon Valley heavyweights, including Google, have posted anti-SOPA protest statements on their home pages.

One significant issue with the proposed legislation is that it gives corporations who feel "violated" profound legal latitude to shut down or financially encumber what the firms view as "rogue sites." Typically, those kinds of sites offer pirated versions of intellectual property, such as movies. It is major movie, cable, and TV content providers who are SOPA's principal advocates.

There is a brief, useful QandA-style overview in today's siliconvalley.com, if you're unfamiliar with the SOPA controversy.

Do you have an opinion about SOPA/PIPA? You're welcome to leave a comment on the topic.