Free Talk Live

"If you’ve got a business -- you didn’t build that. Somebody else made that happen...You didn’t get there on your own. I’m always struck by people who think, well, it must be because I was just so smart. It must be because I worked harder than everybody else."

[Digg this-]

"The Internet didn’t get invented on its own. Government research created the Internet so that all the companies could make money off the Internet." [I always wondered why Al Gore invented the internet, now I guess I know]

Through domain seizures, ISP blockades, search engine censorship, and cutting funding of allegedly copyright infringing websites, the bill takes Internet censorship to the next level. The U.S. Government is determined to put an end to online piracy. In an attempt to give copyright holders and the authorities all the tools required to disable access to so-called rogue sites, lawmakers will soon introduce the PROTECT IP Act.

The draft bill is a combination of two pieces of legislation originally crafted by Senators Lieberman and Rockefeller. One of the differences between the new bill and the original Lieberman version is that the Internet “kill switch” power has been limited to 90 days without congressional oversight, rather than the original period of four months contained in the Lieberman bill.

In light of government threats of censorship, the fact that the US government has a powerful foothold in the infrastructure of the internet is a major problem. Tech-savvy freedom lovers all over the world are retaliating by creating a whole new, decentralized internet, where all of the infrastructure is owned by the individuals who contribute!

STOP INTERNET CENSORSHIP—TWO BILLS IN CONGRESS UNDERMINE THE PRINCIPLES OF THE WEB
On November 16th, the "Stop Online Piracy Act" will be heard in Congress. This legislation, in addition to the Senate's "Protect IP Act," completely undermine and fundamentally change the core principles of the Web. They have the potential to radically alter or shut down sites like YouTube, Flickr, 4chan, others, and all new companies that follow.
See americancensorship.org for more and help us stop these bills from becoming law.

>>President Obama is planning to hand the U.S. Commerce Department authority over a forthcoming cybersecurity effort to create an Internet ID for Americans, a White House official said here today.

>>It's "the absolute perfect spot in the U.S. government" to centralize efforts toward creating an "identity ecosystem" for the Internet, White House Cybersecurity Coordinator Howard Schmidt said.

A bill giving the government the power to shut down Web sites that host materials that infringe copyright is making its way quietly through the lame-duck session of Congress, raising the ire of free-speech groups and prompting a group of academics to lobby against the effort.

Internet activist group Anonymous has brought down Australian government websites in protest against internet filtering and pornography censorship laws.

(by Declan McCullagh): Internet companies and civil liberties groups were alarmed this spring when a U.S. Senate bill proposed handing the White House the power to disconnect private-sector computers from the Internet.
They're not much happier about a revised version that aides to Sen. Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia Democrat, have spent months drafting behind closed doors. CNET News has obtained a copy of the 55-page draft (excerpt), which still appears to permit the president to seize temporary control of private-sector networks during a so-called cybersecurity emergency.