14 DAY TRIAL // A new Russian anti-piracy law coming in effect on August 1 could be the end of Wikipedia in this country.
It’s only a few weeks until Russia will introduce a new law seeking to reduce online copyright infringement of movies and TV shows, TorrentFreak reports.
Also known as the “Russian SOPA,” the new law will allow copyright holders to file lawsuits against sites carrying or linking to infringing content. Site owners would then have 72 hours to remove the material or they could be blocked by ISPs pending a court decision.
For Google and Yandex, the Russian search engine, the law could prove to be a nightmare as it is quite often people misunderstand that a search engine cannot be held responsible for the content uploaded by other people.
Now, Wikipedia joins the rows and fears its site could end up blocked as there are millions of hyperlinks leading to content that may or may not have been authorized. This puts the online encyclopedia in a tight spot.
There’s always hoping rightsholders will contact Wikipedia before going straight to the authorities, but given the general conduct in this type of cases, it's a farfetched idea.
And Wikipedia has a right to be afraid of what may come its way as Google’s Transparency Report alone is full of rightsholders trying to get the online encyclopedia’s pages de-indexed. Wikipedia relies on users for any information typed on the company’s website and all updates and thus has little control over what type of links gets published.
Given the new law and the freedom it gives Russian copyright holders, no one should be surprised to hear about an onslaught of sites getting blocked as soon as the law comes into effect, including Wikipedia among the many names that are sure to have troubles.