Wikipedia Director Will Step Down to Guard Open Internet

Sue Gardner, the executive director of the foundation that runs Wikipedia will step down when a successor is found, according to a statement.

Sue Gardner, the executive director of the foundation that runs Wikipedia will step down when a successor is found, according to a statement.

Gardner has led the foundation since 2007, after leaving the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation. She led the crowd-sourced encyclopedia’s blackout to protest the controversial and ultimately unsuccessful Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA.

She said she would step down to continue to fight for an open Internet.

“[W]e are – increasingly, I think – seeing important decisions made by unaccountable, non-transparent corporate players, a shift from the open web to mobile walled gardens … There are many organizations and individuals advocating for the public interest online — what’s good for ordinary people — but other interests are more numerous and powerful than they are.

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