User blog comment:Semanticdrifter/Digital Protest Against the FISA Improvements Act/@comment-1401334-20140205202153/@comment-4811793-20140205204616

That is a great point. To be sure, the SOPA protest had a much more direct bearing on the day to day activities of our wikia communities and the potential repercussions would have been much more obvious to our users. That said, I think any online community is in the zone of effect when it comes to data surveillance. Aside from a possible chilling effect of people self-censoring in response to increased tracking (percieved or actual), everyone benfits from a free and open internet. Transparency and openness are core principles of the wiki philosophy, and we would not have brought this event to the attention of the community at large if we didn't think it was important. At the very least, it can serve as a call for our users to become informed and involved in the wider discourse of online privacy and government surveillance.