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I'm not monitoring anything. Are you?
If I thought they'd shut down if I refused to post, then I wouldn't be posting. Don't blame me if they can't get with the program. When the US is censoring the internet, Rabble will feel it just as much as anyone else.
Yeah, protests are dumb. Nobody ever notices and they don't affect how people feel about things. We should just carry on business as usual, regardless, and save our shock and surprise for when we wake up one day to find the internet is being regulated by the NSA.
Apology accepted. The bandwagon left without you a long time ago anyway.
That wasn't an apology, M. Spector (for what?), but rather a statement of regret.
The thing about political aciton is it doesn't really work if all you do is chide others for something you aren't willing to take a stand on yourself. You see something not being done? Put up or don' t put up.
If I saw something going on I felt was wrong, or needed action, I would make a statement and act myself, without waiting for someone else to lead the way.
I see no such need with respect to this site. I'll keep posting, because of the distinction about the effective use of protest, and the importance of media I made in my past post. Perhaps you should go read it again.
(edit)
FYI, these sites are up and running, even though I think they are aware of the protest:
http://americancensorship.org/
http://fightforthefuture.org/
https://www.eff.org/
The Free Software Foundation, the activist organization that promotes software freedom everywhere has posted it's "black out" statement here
What I like about them in particular is that they challenge the phoney corporate propaganda term "intellectual property".
(In case it's down by the time you see this post)
Intellectual property is corporate propaganda ? Or did you mean that their use of the term is inaccurate?
Did Google protest today? This article says it did, but I never noticed it.
Yes the term "intellectual property" is a corporate propaganda term. What it does is lump together copyright, trademark and patent law into one ball of wax as if they are all "the same"...and...they are not. Then the corporations try to tell us that the "owners" of this so-called intellectual property have the same rights as owners of physical property. The next step for the corporations is to lobby/buy politicians so that they introduce laws like SOPA and PIPA and similar initiatives in Canada.
Copyright covers a work such as a written work, music, artistic work etc. If you create a work, you own the copyright to it and can decide how your work can be used. You don't have to go to a government office to apply for copyright.
Trademarks were introduced so that if someone bought an item, they'd know that the item was "the real thing".
Patents cover inventions, and provide a limited monopoly over the use of a particular invention. But, you have to go to a government office to apply for a patent. The idea around patents is to encourage people to invent things by giving them this limited monopoly.
My explanation is brief, but you get the idea. None of these three things has anything to do with the other. So IMHO, we should always reject the use of the term "intellectual property" as a corporate propaganda term.
There's a more detailed explanation here
As for Google, the reason why you wouldn't have seen the small protest statement is that it was only posted on Google.com and not on Google.ca
When Google sees where your web browser is coming from (yes they and most sites can see that) they automatically point you at your country-specific site.
Senator Dodd On Irresponsible Developments of "Blackout Day"
Emphasis added. Thanks Mr. Dodd!
I guess he includes elected and administration officials who use copyright legislation to try and take down their own laws when people publish them on the internet, and elected officlals and corporate backers of the bills who are no strangers to piracy themselves.
I suppose the next move is some kind of "essential services" law to protect our freedom.
And "corporate interests"? Has he ever visited Wikipedia? If so I am sure he has noticed their fundraising campaign, and the fact they are a non-profit foundation.
http://www.rawstory.com/rs/2012/01/19/senate-democrats-hold-fast-to-anti...
And this!
http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2012/01/scotus-re-copyright-decision/
And so it starts
Megaupload Shut Down on Piracy ChargesAnd that's without SOPA. The internet is going to have to develop another domain name that can compete with .com or else the U.S. will always be able to do this.
Indeed, so it starts.
Too bad the aggressors are going into the field with horses and muzzleloaders..
Anonymous takes down DOJ, MPAA, RIAA, Universal Music
http://www.neowin.net/news/anonymous-takes-down-doj-website-in-response-...
Wouldnt matter. US dominated agencies oversee all the domain extensions not to mention most of the hubs. Its interesting though that there seems to be no determined hunt for anonymous members.
Anonymous is getting busy tonight.
From the Neowin.net link above
This is why we can't place our trust in corporate controlled social networks like Twitter and Facebook.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0Wvn-9BXVc
The Swedish Pirate Party strongly condemns raid against MegaUpload
Here is the response from my Congressman:
Thank you for con tacting me regarding H.R. 3261, the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) . I appreciate your taking the time to share your thoughts with me. I value the input of every citizen in making sound decisions for Kansas and for America. I do not support SOPA in its current form.
H.R. 3261 would authorize the U.S. Attorney General or an intellectual property rights owner harmed by an " internet site ded icated to infringing activities" ( " ISDIA " ) to commence an action against: (1) a registrant of an ISDIA ' s domain name, or (2) an owner or operator of an ISDIA accessed through a domain name. It would also allow the Attorney General to commence actions against such individuals associated with foreign domain names. Upon introduction, the bill was referred to the House Committee on the Judiciary.
While SOPA is designed to protect the intellectual property of innovators and entrepreneurs on the internet, I am very concerned about restricting free speech or harming the open and innov ative nature of the internet. House Congressional Hearings have been postponed , and no vote is schedule d for the bill. Opponents of SOPA are currently working on an alternative bill to address the many concerns. I will be sure to monitor the progress of SOPA and any alternative bills that may be introduced.
Looks like it worked... The bill is knocked down for now.
THey may have put it off in the states. Looks like there is a secret lobby to have SOPA provisions included in Canada's copyright legislation:
http://www.michaelgeist.ca/content/view/6257/125/
Michael Geist--as always-- is a must read on the reality of the government/corporate alliance for censorship.
Canada, if anything, is even less transparent in its lobbyist and government complicity than the US, as the wikileaks US/Canada diplomatic leaks exposed by Geist show.
--What do you call it when Harper government members secretly lobby the US government to put more pressure on Canada? Is more evidence needed of a Canadian colonial government looking out first for the interests of the beloved neoColonizer?
http://rabble.ca/babble/national-news/cons-conspire-us-elevate-canada-pi... ).
Geist also shows , in the article linked by smith, the already strong anti-piracy laws in action in both the US and Canada.
But rust never sleeps--and neither does the co-ordinated momentum of corporate greed and government oppression. If one door is barred, some window will be left open.
Lovely!
And I agree about Geist - we're lucky to have him.
Linda McQuaig wrote that Canada's rich people(the oligarchs) do something similar when lobbying bond rating agencies in the U.S. to lower Canada's credit ratings from time to time. They would like very much for Canadian taxpayers to have to pay more on public debts owed to Canada's private creditors apparently. They should be horsewhipped.
To be fair, the Harper government aren't the only folks caving in to pressure from the U.S. infotainment industry.
Cory Doctorow wrote this article in the Guardian last November on how the BBC caved in to the U.S. television industry on digital restrictions management (DRM) on HDTV. The BBC did so in secret...and one must remember that British TV viewers are required by law to pay the licensing fees that pay for the BBC. Also, the British regulatory agency Ofcom maintained the secrecy of this deal.
I'm sure we'll see some other form of SOPA and PIPA introduced down the road in the U.S. Coupled with this, the U.S. will continue to pressure governments around the world into adopting SOPA and PIPA type legislation.
The Harper government did not "cave" to pressure, they secretly advocated ways the US could apply more pressure to Canada (see earlier post).
That is, "The Harper Goverrnment" (tm), by preferential name and action, is not the "Government of Canada"since it is apparently comprised of double agents.
SOPA and PIPA Fully Alive and a New Bill Joins Them
http://www.activistpost.com/2012/01/sopa-and-pipa-fully-alive-and-new-bi...
"Actually SOPA is set to be reformulated in February, PIPA will be revisited with possible amendments in the coming weeks. Case in point, all is still open possible -- nothing is dead, pulled or cancelled. If that wasn't enough to keep us on our toes, a new, similar bill has surfaced.."
Whatever the backroom machinations, I'm sure we can all agree that HarpoSOPA and HarpoPIPA are bad for everyone ;)
In other news, this bill was introduced into the Hawaii state legislature requiring ISP's to maintain records of absolutely everything you do online. Fortunately after "vehement opposition" it was subsequently tabled.
It's clear to me that we're entering a period of time where governments and corporations are declaring war on computer and internet users.
According to this story on the EFF website Dutch courts have ordered ISP's to block access to Pirate Bay. There's also a bit of an update on what's happening in other European countries.
It looks like the Swiss have got it right
Read the rest on Ars Technica
#9. Power of Corporations Protected
Nein! Nein! Nein!
Web censorship will force next generation nets
Mother should I trust the government? Let's bypass the fuckers.
What might help in developing independent networks is a device like the Freedom Box. I posted about it last summer here