#OCCUPYAIPAC
1 day ago

"The illusion of freedom [in America] will continue as long as it’s profitable to continue the illusion. At the point where the illusion becomes too expensive to maintain, they will just take down the scenery, they will pull back the curtains, they will move the tables and chairs out of the way and you will see the brick wall at the back of the theater." ~~Frank Zappa |
"All The News You Never Knew You Needed To Know ...Until Now." January 19 2012 Travus T. Hipp Morning News & Commentary: Obama Applies The 'Brer Rabbit Solution' To The KeystoneXL Pipeline Bill [Pop Out Player? Click Here] Prefer An MP3 Playlist? It's Here: [128Kbps MP3 16:59 Minutes] Other Audio Formats Available [ Here ] Razer Raygun Says: ♥ Sharing IS Caring! ♥ |
#US Supreme Court Chooses #SOPA/#PIPA Protest Day To Give A Giant Middle Finger To The Public Domain
from the ridiculous dept
We’ve been talking about the Golan case, and its possible impact on culture, for years. If you’re unfamiliar with it, it’s the third in a line of cases, starting with the Eldred case, to challenge aspects of copyright law as violating the First Amendment.
The key point in the case was questioning whether or not the US could take works out of the public domain and put them under copyright.
The US had argued it needed to do this under a trade agreement to make other countries respect our copyrights. Of course, for those who were making use of those public domain works, it sure seemed like a way to unfairly lock up works that belonged to the public. It was difficult to see how retroactively taking works out of the public domain could fit into the traditional contours of copyright law… but today, on the day of the big SOPA/PIPA protests… that’s exactly what happened (pdf). [In Full @ TechDirt]
Sopa and Pipa protests not over, says WikipediaBut it HAS crippled the pimps and thieves of the Motion Picture/Recording industry... and their lobbyists:
After a 24-hour blackout, Wikipedia has returned to full working order but declared: “We’re not done yet.”
The site had blocked its content for 24 hours in protest at proposed anti-piracy legislation in the US.
The encyclopaedia said the site had been viewed 162 million times, with eight million people following instructions to contact politicians.
The protest led to eight US lawmakers withdrawing their support for the proposed bills.
Two of the bill’s co-sponsors, Marco Rubio from Florida and Roy Blunt from Missouri, are among those who have withdrawn their support after “legitimate concerns”.
But backers of the legislation, led by the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), described the action as an “irresponsible” publicity “stunt”.
The Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) and Protect Intellectual Property Act (Pipa) have caused considerable controversy among internet users and businesses since the plans were proposed in October last year. [More @ BBC]
The First Internet Strike in History a Success
Wednesday, January 18 2012
The Washington Post reports that Rep. Darrell Issa of California, who opposed SOPA/PIPA, has put out a statement saying, “The voice of the Internet community has been heard,” and that there will be no vote in the House on the bills so detested by the entire technical and Internet communities.
“Much more education for Members of Congress about the workings of the Internet is essential,” Issa says.
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This is tech history, so I’ve collected screenshots for you of some of the many, many sites that are on strike today. The complete list, with links, is on SOPAstrike.com. I see media reports that Google and Wikipedia are on strike, but this strike turned out to be much larger than that.
Here is a representative sample, with links provided so you can follow up and learn more about why the Internet en masse is so opposed to SOPA and PIPA... [More @ GrokLaw]

Creative Commons CopyrightIn accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107 and The Berne Convention on Literary and Artistic Works, Article 10, the news clippings, audio, and images used in this posting are made available without profit for research and educational purposes.


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