High Court rejects Wikipedia challenge to UK online safety rules
A High Court ruling has ended Wikipedia’s attempt to overturn part of the UK’s divisive new Online Safety Act, but the legal fight over its application may not be quite over. Judges dismissed the Wikimedia Foundation’s challenge to rules that could place the encyclopaedia under the law’s strictest category of regulation.
The organization behind Wikipedia says the framework risks forcing it to verify the identities of its volunteer editors, undermining both their privacy and the way the site operates. It argues that the model, in which anyone can contribute without registering personal details, is central to the platform’s reliability and breadth of coverage.
Wikipedia finally has a dark mode option so you can be kind to your eyes
Apps, operating systems and websites have been offering users the choice between light and dark color schemes for a number of years now. While most of the big names have kept pace, there have been a handful of notable exceptions -- including Wikipedia.
Whether for accessibility reasons or just pure aesthetic preference, such has been the demand for a dark mode for Wikipedia that numerous skins and hacks have sprung up to give people what they want. But now such techniques are not needed as Wikipedia, at long last, has an official dark mode option.
Wikipedia reveals its most popular articles of 2023
Wikipedia, the world's largest free online encyclopedia, has unveiled the most popular articles of 2023. The list provides a unique snapshot of the global events, personalities, and trends that captured the world's attention throughout the year.
The data, released by the Wikimedia Foundation, reveals a diverse range of topics that were most sought after by the site's billions of users worldwide.
Happy Birthday Wikipedia -- 20 today
The world's biggest free encyclopedia turns 20 years old today. It has more than 55 million articles that can be accessed in over 300 languages, for free, all created by volunteers.
The Wikimedia Foundation and Wikipedia's volunteer communities are involved in developing tools and programs to expand the quantity and diversity of Wikipedia content as well as modernizing its technology to meet the needs of the future and enhancing volunteers' ability to combat disinformation with better resources and insights.
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales has a new ad-free, news-focused social network, WT:Social
Social media has evolved over the years in ways that few could have predicted. The likes of Facebook and Twitter are used not only for keeping in touch with friends and family, but also for keeping up to date with news.
But there are endless problems with current social networks, with ads and fake or misleading news being serious problems and irritants. Jimmy Wales, the founder of Wikipedia, has launched a new social network called WT:Social. It is free from ads and has a news focus. Importantly, users are able to edit headlines which are incorrect or deceptive.
You can now read cited books directly through Wikipedia
Wikipedia is an incredibly useful resource, even if not every entry is as accurate as it could be. If you’re using it for research, it’s best to perhaps view what you read there as a jumping off point.
Today, diving deeper into a subject just got easier, as when you find a citation to a book in a Wikipedia entry, you might now be able to go straight to the page of that actual volume with a single mouse click thanks to the Internet Archive.
Wikipedia taken offline by massive DDoS attack
A DDoS attack rocked Wikipedia on Friday, taking the site offline in a number of countries.
The online encyclopedia was forced offline for several hours across Europe and the Middle East, and the site battled the attack to restore service. The Wikimedia Foundation -- the organization behind the site -- condemned the attack saying it wanted to protect the "fundamental right" for people to be able to "freely access and share information".
Wikipedia now offers link previews -- but you can disable them
When you decide to look up anything on Wikipedia, you run the very serious risk of falling down a rabbit hole that will take you many hours to find your way back out of. To help avoid the problem of going off on too much of a tangent, the site recently introduced a new link preview feature.
It's a simple idea which means that it is possible to preview a page before you visit it, simply by hovering over the link. But it's not to everyone's taste. If you've noticed the new feature and want to kill it, you'll be pleased to hear that you can.
Wikipedia didn't know about YouTube's plans to show its content next to conspiracy videos
YouTube's announcement that it plans to display content from Wikipedia next to conspiracy videos in the name of balance and providing the "right information" caught many people by surprise -- none more so than Wikipedia itself.
Wikimedia Foundation -- the organization behind Wikipedia -- has issued a statement saying that "we were not given advance notice of this announcement." While the organization does not object to YouTube's decision, it does seem a little strange that there has been no discussion between the two parties.
Freely accessible Wikipedia Zero is no more
The Wikimedia Foundation is to kill off Wikipedia Zero this year. The zero-rated version of the online encyclopaedia was launched six years ago with the aim of providing free access to mobile users in numerous countries, but there has been a significant drop in demand.
The foundation has partnered with dozens of mobile operators around the world to provide free access to Wikipedia. Among the reasons for shutting down the program is "low awareness of Wikipedia outside of North America and Europe."
The way is clear for Wikimedia to sue the NSA for warrantless surveillance
A federal appeals court has ruled that the Wikimedia Foundation may sue the NSA for its warrantless use of the "Upstream" surveillance program. The ruling overturns an earlier one which said the foundation could not sue due to an inability to prove that Wikimedia communication was being monitored either directly or indirectly.
The ruling by the United States Court Of Appeals for The Fourth Circuit means that the foundation is now able to proceed with legal action that was previously blocked. The amount of traffic generated by Wikimedia proved key to winning the appeal.
Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales sets up WikiTribune to fight fake news
Donald Trump is obsessed with the notion of FAKE NEWS. Whether his definition is the same as everyone else's is open to debate, but there is a genuine problem with the spread of propaganda, nonsense, and stories which are clearly fabricated. Google and Facebook and other big names from the world of tech have started to fight back, and now it's the turn of Jimmy Wales.
The Wikipedia founder is setting up WikiTribune, an online news publication which focuses on fact-checking, using a combination of paid journalists and contributions from the community. It is described as a "new kind of news platform," and aims to provide "accurate information with real evidence, so that you can confidently make up your own mind."
Wikipedia bans use of Daily Mail as a source because it is 'unreliable'
In a move that will surprise few people familiar with the newspaper, Wikipedia has chosen to ban the use of the British Daily Mail as a source. Editors for the site reached the conclusion that the paper "is generally unreliable, and its use as a reference is to be generally prohibited".
While this does not constitute an outright ban -- something which would probably not go down well with the Wikipedia community -- editors are strongly encouraged to find an alternative source wherever possible. The decision comes after a vote in which editors debated the Daily Mail's "reputation for poor fact checking, sensationalism, and flat-out fabrication". In other words: fake news.
Just Google it: Anyone could have 'hacked' and doxxed Trump like Anonymous
Shortly after hacking into Donald Trump's voicemails and leaking messages, Anonymous declared all-out war on the presidential candidate. Earlier this week, the hacktivist group launched #OpWhiteRose and doxxed the republican candidate.
Personal information about Trump -- his cell phone number, social security number and other details -- were released last week, with the group saying they were provided on the understanding that "you alone are responsible for your actions, as always". But rather than being the fruit of an elaborate hacking operation, anyone with the nous to use Google and Wikipedia could have gathered exactly the same information for themselves.
Wikimedia case against NSA spying thrown out of court
A lawsuit brought against the NSA by Wikimedia and eight other plaintiffs has been dismissed by a federal judge. American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) filed the case on behalf of the Wikimedia Foundation alleging that the NSA had engaged in mass surveillance of Wikipedia users.
Joined by the likes of Human Rights Watch and Amnesty International USA, Wikimedia complained about the NSA's upstream surveillance as revealed by Edward Snowden. The ACLU suggested that the sheer volume of traffic Wikipedia receives means that the US government's surveillance must have included spying on the activities of Wikipedia users. Judge T.S. Ellis disagreed, saying that the plaintiffs did not have plausibility -- or size -- on their side.
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