It's been awhile since I've made any posts. Normally I try to report up to the minute news in the areas of Cybergeddon, Internet censorship, SOPA, PIPA, Stopping Online Piracy and Protecting IP Act. I will continue to report on these most vital subject matters but not up to the minute as I would like. With the New Year comes a new schedule. StopCensorships.blogspot.com is one among many passions. And in order to continue reporting valuable news, I have to schedule it weekly on Tuesdays. It's all good though! You'll still be informed just as much but actually more of it. I hope you all stick with me as the gives me a chance to work on other ventures in a more timely basis.
I want to take this opportunity to thank all of my readers for their support: THANK YOU!
And now...This Just In!
Clashes in Turkey as internet censorship protests turn violent.
Riot police in Istanbul used water canon as crowds demonstrated against a draft bill that would increase controls over the internet. The draft, which would enable mass surveillance of internet users, is due to be debated in Turkey’s parliament in the coming days. Protesters chanted anti-government slogans and called on lawmakers to reject the bill. One man explained to euronews why he was demonstrating: “I’m here to defend my internet right,” he said. “It’s wrong to be banned by somebody while you pay for the internet. I’m protesting about that. And censorship is a crime.” According to a draft law, Turkey’s Communications Ministry and the directorate monitoring telecommunications (TIB) would be given sweeping new powers over Turkish internet service providers which would allow the government to access swathes of data without judicial approval. Read More!
SOPA two years later: Fight over Internet legislation left a 'lasting legacy'
Two years after the anti-piracy bill SOPA sparked protests from activists concerned about Internet freedom, issues around what can be done to limit activity online continue to rage on. The Stop Online Piracy Act of 2011 effectively pitted Hollywood against Silicon Valley -- copyright holders against Internet companies -- as lawmakers trained their eye on overseas websites like The Pirate Bay. The broad language of the bill, which aimed to stop copyright infringement by restricting access to sites that allow the spread of pirated content, had some afraid that third-parties like search engines and payment processors would get caught up in the dragnet. Websites went dark, demonstrators marched, and activists gave speeches, and on Jan. 20, 2012, SOPA was defeated. SOPA had become a lightning rod for all sorts of issues surrounding the shift that the Internet created: copyright law, Internet freedom and the language used to govern computer crimes. That was all two years ago. What’s the fight over now? Read More!
Reflections on SOPA: It’s the People, Not the Platform!
Today marks the second anniversary of the ‘Internet blackout’ that ultimately derailed the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA). It is an interesting time to reflect on the significance of the Internet as an enabling platform. While SOPA advocates tried mightily at the time to paint the bill as uncontroversial, with opposition being limited to a few intransigent companies, more recent academic research has reinforced the initial assessment that the outcry against SOPA and PIPA was a largely distributed phenomenon. Larry Downes, co-author of Big Bang Disruption, wrote in a column for Forbes at the time that it was the bitroots movement, in...“a revolt of, by and with social networks, turning the tools that organized them into groups in the first place into potent new weapons for political advocacy. The users had figured out how to hack politics.” Research led by Prof. Yochai Benkler last year validated this, finding that networked communications enabled widely distributed and often peripheral individuals or actors to play crucial roles in public dialogue. Read More!
No comments:
Post a Comment