SOPA

…e other sites. Some sites are starting to close for 24 hours in protest of SOPA. SOPA = The US House of Representatives bill H.R. 3261 Stop Online Piracy Act. While it has a worthy sounding name, the bill is about censorship and loss of due process for those censored. Since the USA controls the Internet this loss of freedom will affect the entire planet. Until now the US has used a non-partisan agency to run the Internet domain services. These bil… Continue reading

SOPA is Still a Problem

…or perspective. One can Google H.R. 3261 (USA House of Representatives) or SOPA. Bill is sponsored by Rep. Lamar S. Smith (R – Texas) – Cosponsors are listed HERE and 8 of 31 are from California. Look to see if your rep is in the list. If so, note it so you will know who to vote out in 2012. Latest Major Action: 12/16/2011. GoDaddy pulls its support from SOPA – Go Daddy has concerns about the free speech and Internet security implications of the l… Continue reading

SOPA, PIPA, and OA

…l property and ownership rights. It is a basic tenet of freedom to protect private property. Without such protection things devolve into anarchy and poverty. It’s a basic lesson of history. One should research the facts and make up their mind if they are to support SOPA, PIPA, and OA or not. The best analysis and explanation of the proposed laws I’ve seen is Gwyneth Llewelyn’s article: SOPA/PIPA revisited. Please read the article. Gwyn has taken t… Continue reading

SOPA Update

ReadWriteWeb has an article on recent developments in the SOPA, Protect-IP, and OPEN bills. The Obama administration is saying they will not sign any bill that would allow censorship or changes in the domain naming system. Personally, I think that is smoke to quite the resistance these proposed laws are drawing from around the world. I will point out that this is the same administration that issued a ‘legal opinion’ telling government agencies th… Continue reading

SOPA, PIPA, OPENA, and ACTA

…eiting Trade Agreement (ACTA). The writer is part of the group that thinks SOPA, PIPA, and OPENA have been stopped. They have not. See: SOPA, PIPA, OPENA articles. Now we have word about an international attack on our rights from another quarter: ACTA. Read the article: What You Should Know About ACTA and Your Rights. This is important for our SL community because other counties will be adopting, or not, this treaty. Many countries still have oppo… Continue reading

I’m Back…

SOPA and PIPA are not gone. We didn’t win. We were impressive. But, the politicians and the commercial interests involved have just stepped aside and allowed the wave of protest to pass. They are expecting us to go back to sleep. Alec Rawls writes on Watt’s Up With That about Cass Sunstein, an Obama czar, wanting to use copyright laws to stop rumors and conspiracies, in other words to stifle free speech. The copyright laws in the US have the idea… Continue reading

Disinformation

…one part of the effort. So, while many think we have won some battle with SOPA, PIPA, OPENA, and ACTA, we actually lost. New laws were put in place by the Obama Administration while we were being distracted with SOPA. And while it is debatable whether the laws that got through are as bad or worse, the laws are now being enforced. The battle over Internet freedom was and is a slight of hand engagement. A primary tool is Disinformation. That tool i… Continue reading

Looking Back at Second Life 2012

…end of the month we saw the US administration roll out new efforts to get SOPA and PIPA like laws on the books. Executive Orders and efforts to sign a treaty with the UN to give control of the Internet to the U.N. continue. Remember the majority of U.N. members are NOT democracies. See: I’m Back… and SOPA, PIPA, OPENA, and ACTA. This is still something people everywhere need to fight. A new combat meter was release in Second Life around the end o… Continue reading