hahahahaha nope not Santa just your friendly Nanny State Governments taking care of you while they rob you blind....Ok that's my rant......hahahahah here's the story from the paper.
"We oppose these bills because there are smart, targeted ways to shut down foreign rogue websites without asking American companies to censor the Internet," a Google spokesman said.
WASHINGTON — Wikipedia and Google joined hundreds of other websites Wednesday in a sprawling online protest against legislation in the U.S. Congress intended to crack down on Internet piracy.
Wikipedia shut down the English version of its online encyclopedia for 24 hours to protest the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) introduced in the House of Representatives and the Senate version, the Protect IP Act (PIPA).
Google blotted out the celebrated logo on its U.S. home page with a black banner and published an exhortation to users to "Tell Congress: Please don't censor the Web!"
Like Wikipedia, social news site reddit also went dark, urging visitors to call their lawmaker or sign a petition opposing the House and Senate bills.
"These bills provide overly broad mechanisms for enforcement of copyright which would restrict innovation and threaten the existence of websites with user-submitted content," reddit said.
Culture and technology blog Boing Boing also took itself offline to protest what it called "legislation that would certainly kill us forever."
Reporters Without Borders shut down its English-language website for 24 hours warning that the bills "would sacrifice online freedom of expression in the name of combating piracy."
Blogging platform WordPress.com covered its home page with black banners with the word "censored" as did technology magazine Wired.
The popular Cheezburger humor network posted messages of opposition to the bills on all of its 58 sites, which include icanhascheezburger.com, FAIL Blog and The Daily What.
The draft legislation has won the backing of Hollywood, the music industry, the National Association of Manufacturers, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and other groups.
The Business Software Alliance has welcomed House efforts to curb software piracy but has said "valid and important questions have been raised about the bill."
The Senate is scheduled to vote on PIPA on January 24 but Republican House speaker John Boehner said Wednesday there was a "lack of consensus at this point" on SOPA, the House version, and it would need work in committee.
The bills have come under fire from digital rights and free speech groups for allegedly paving the way for U.S. authorities to shut down websites accused of online piracy, including foreign sites, without due process.
"Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet," Wikipedia said in a message at its darkened website. "For 24 hours, to raise awareness, we are blacking out Wikipedia."
Other Web giants such as Twitter, Facebook and Craigslist declined to shut down for the day but expressed their opposition to the legislation.
Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey urged his 1.8 million followers to tweet, email and call and "tell Congress NO."
Facebook said it takes online piracy and copyright infringement "very seriously" but the bills "are not the right solution to this problem, because of the collateral damage they would cause to the Internet."
U.S. visitors to Craigslist were met with a message of opposition to the legislation and had to click on a link to continue on to the site.
The founders of Google, Twitter, Wikipedia, Yahoo! and other Internet giants said in an open letter last month the legislation would give the U.S. government censorship powers "similar to those used by China, Malaysia and Iran."
"We oppose these bills because there are smart, targeted ways to shut down foreign rogue websites without asking American companies to censor the Internet," a Google spokesman said.
The White House expressed concern about the anti-online piracy bills in a statement over the weekend.
"While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response, we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative global Internet," it said.
News Corp. chief executive Rupert Murdoch, who backs the U.S. legislation, accused the "blogosphere" of "terrorizing many senators and congressmen who previously committed" to supporting it.
"Nonsense argument about danger to Internet. How about Google, others blocking porn, hate speech, etc? Internet hurt?" he wrote on Twitter.
...........hmmm more rant (or opinion) Robert Murdoch is in favour, the very mouthpieces screaming 'freedom of sppech' at every turn don't want you to get any other ideas than the ones he & other media giants want you read. We are back to the 60's baby.Trust No One ( especially those 'under' 30 up & coming execs,....you know the 'New World Order types.......... lol
Have Fun & Remember Verdun (that's not an order ,just a suggestion). - lol - Cheers! Les (I have to go now there's a black SUV just pulled up and some suits coming to my door......)
2 comments:
Remember this poem: (also don't forget,those who do not remember history,are doomed to repeat it)
First they came for the Socialists, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Socialist.
Then they came for the Trade Unionists, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Trade Unionist.
Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out --
Because I was not a Jew.
Then they came for me -- and there was no one left to speak for me.
about the authour: Martin Niemöller (1892-1984) was an ardent nationalist and prominent Protestant pastor who emerged as an outspoken public foe of Adolf Hitler and spent the last 7 years of Nazi rule in concentration camps. .
Canadians would be affected if online privacy laws proposed south of the border get passed by Congress, free speech and privacy advocates say.
The laws – The Stop Online Piracy Act and the PROTECT IP Act, known as PIPA and SOPA – would require Internet Service Providers to block access to any site accused of posting, or linking to, copyrighted content. It would also force search engines from removing the offending sites from their databases and prevent advertisers from giving the site their business.
Critics say the law would make media companies judge and jury of copyright infringement, rather than having the process resolved in court. They also say it’s a blatant attack on freedom of expression.
“The goal in many ways of SOPA is to reach beyond the borders of the United States,” said Michael Geist, a University of Ottawa law professor and copyright expert. “It’s Canadian sites and sites around the world that would find themselves a target for these kinds of actions.”
The proposed law would do this because, Geist explains, it is written so any website domain name registered in the United States is treated as if it were a U.S. page — The Gazette’s website included.
Because Canadian and U.S. copyright laws differ, a website could be taken down for breaking U.S. provisions, without running afoul of Canadian law.
In the U.S., there were protests in the streets of New York City., Seattle and San Francisco on what was known as Black Wednesday. Internet companies such as Wikipedia and Reddit shut down parts of their websites for the day, and provided links to anti-SOPA and PIPA sites, as well a way for people to advocate on behalf of open Internet and free speech.
Sharon Polsky, the chairperson of the Canadian Association of Professional Access and Privacy Administrators, said she’d like to see similar protests going on here. She said not only would PIPA and SOPA affect the Canadians, but there is a slew of other legislation being prepared by the Conservative Government that would violate the privacy of most Canadians.
“Canadians have not taken up the gauntlet and made themselves aware of the laws that will affect their personal freedom,” Polsky said.
Read more: http://www.montrealgazette.com/news/SOPA+PIPA+laws+would+affect+Canadians+passed/6015152/story.html#ixzz1jrwXvNT7
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