Unless you’ve just awoken from hibernation, you’ll be aware that many of the world’s biggest and most used websites are ‘blacking out’ today in protest of the SOPA/PIPA acts that may be passed by the U.S congress.
SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) and PIPA (Protect IP Act) are two acts that, if passed, would throttle the freedom of the internet for U.S citizens, and would likely have a worldwide effect as a result. Huge companies such as Google, Wikipedia and Microsoft have publically opposed the acts, with Wikipedia today staging a 24 hour blackout, making the immensely popular online knowledge base inaccessible.
We’ve seen uproar and outrage from users on Twitter, Facebook and just about everywhere on the web. There are minorities who are unsure as to why Wikipedia is down, and, rather amusingly, some who believe the government has shut down Wikipedia for good. The blackout is affecting millions, and unfortunately the truth is that many out there are reliant on the knowledge base and need to use it today for help with school homework, college papers, dissertations and the like. If you’re one of these people, don’t fear, as there are ways you can still use Wikipedia.
Go Mobile
The first and perhaps easiest way to access the site is to use a smartphone or tablet. The mobile site hasn’t been blacked out, and as such you can enjoy free roam of its knowledge using your phone, or if you’re fortunate, a tablet computer. Your device should automatically route you to the mobile site, but if you’re having trouble simply head to m.wikipedia.com to get in.
Escape to get in
This trick works with PCs and Laptops, so don’t worry if you don’t have a tablet computer or your phone isn’t up to scratch. If you head to Wikipedia.com it will load the country select page. You’ll need a quick finger for this to work; simply hit ESC on your keyboard straight after clicking on your countrie’s Wikipedia page, and you’ll find the blackout message won’t appear, leaving you free to browse the full site as normal. Unfortunately the blackout message will appear each time you load another page or click a link from the Wikipedia page. You’ll need to tap ESC once when each page loads to prevent the blackout message appearing. It’s a pain, but it works, and it’s only for 24 hours!
There are other, more complex methods available to use, such as running scripts within your browser. However, we’ve found success using the ESC method on Windows 7, Vista and XP machines using Internet Explorer, Firefox and Chrome web browsers, so we’re confident you’ll be able to as well.
Let us know your thoughts on our comments below or via our @Gadget_Helpline Twitter page or Official Facebook group.
Tags: Access, blocked, congress, down, greasemonkey, guide, how to, mobile, pipa, protest, script, SOPA, Wikipedia
