How to view Wikipedia during the SOPA/PIPA protest

Fighting online piracy is important, but SOPA/PIPA is not the way to do it. SOPA and PIPA undermine the existing laws that enabled the Web to blossom and permeate the lives of people across the world. Millions depend on it for work, but many more depend on it for information.

In protest today — January the 18th — major sites across the Internet are “going dark” for 24 hours. Sites like Wikipedia, BoingBoing, WordPress and TwitPic are disabling all or part of their services to raise awareness about these censorship laws that could prove to be detrimental to the free and open internet.

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Raising awareness is important, but many rely on information from Wikipedia for their day to day tasks. Take heart though – once you’ve viewed the blackout message, there’s a simple workaround to give you access to the Wikipedia entry you were viewing.

To disable the message while viewing Wikipedia on a desktop computer, simply disable Javascript in your chosen web browser and refresh the page. Mobile versions of Wikipedia seem unaffected, so grab your phone if you don’t want to tinker with your Javascript settings.

The Wall Street Journal has alternative methods of accessing Wikipedia and Mashable has 12 alternative information resources.

Here’s a rough guide to disabling Javascript on your computer:

Chrome

– Wrench icon (top right)
– Preferences
– Under the hood
– Content settings
– Under Javascript, select Do not allow any site to run JavaScript

Firefox

– Preferences
– Content
– Uncheck Enable Javascript

Safari

– Preferences
– Security
– Under Web Content, uncheck Enable Javascript

Internet Explorer 7/8

– In Internet Explorer 7/8, from the Tools drop-down list, select Internet Options.
– In Internet Explorer 9:
– Gear icon (top right)
– Internet options.
– Security
– Custom level
– Scroll to the Scripting heading
– Select the appropriate radio button
– To enable JavaScript, under Active scripting, select the Enable radio button.
– To disable JavaScript, under Active scripting, select the Disable radio button.
– Click OK
– Click the Yes button
– Click OK

Opera 9

To enable JavaScript in Opera 9.xx series

– Tools menu
– Preferences
– Content
– Check the box next to Enable JavaScript
– Click the JavaScript Options button to open the JavaScript Options box
– Check the boxes that you want to allow
– Click OK
– Click OK