How to get around the Wikipedia blackout

If you visit the English-language version of Wikipedia today you’ll see this:

As has been widely reported, Wikipedia is one of a number of high profile websites which is shutting its doors today in protest at US anti-piracy moves.

That’s bad news if you’re a student hoping to use your usual trick of scouring Wikipedia for cut-and-paste into your homework. :)

But don’t fear, there’s an easy way to access Wikipedia.

Wikipedia’s blackout is achieved using some JavaScript. So, all you need is a trusty copy of the Firefox web browser and the popular NoScript add-on.

Simply disable scripts on wikipedia.org and wikimedia.org and..

Bingo!

Of course, NoScript isn’t just useful for accessing Wikipedia. It’s also tremendously useful for helping you decide which websites you trust to run scripts -…

Read more in my article on the Naked Security website.

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Graham Cluley •   @gcluley

Graham Cluley is a veteran of the anti-virus industry having worked for a number of security companies since the early 1990s when he wrote the first ever version of Dr Solomon's Anti-Virus Toolkit for Windows. Now an independent security analyst, he regularly makes media appearances and is an international public speaker on the topic of computer security, hackers, and online privacy. Follow him on Twitter at @gcluley, on Mastodon at @[email protected], or drop him an email.