Posted by Administration on Feb 12, 2012 in Europe, Free Speech Reform, UK, USA
It is time to rethink what our economy’s are really doing for us. The control of the Global Economy is manufactured by just the elite few. You ask why? For the riches obviously but they are not for the benefit of mankind 40% of the worlds wealth is owned by 1% of the worlds population. We eat our resources at an rate that we will see them running out and why. The answer again is called money. Who owns all the money? The central banks these central banks loan that money out based on earning interest and create debt. Further money is then made out of thin air by what is called Promissory Notes. in other words your promise to pay it back with interest. Soon people will begin to understand that, its the end of the Human race if we do not look for an alternative now. Money is nothing more than a pyramid scheme set up by the few to control the rest. More on this story shortly. please watch this...
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Posted by Administration on Feb 9, 2012 in ACTA, Censorship, England, Europe, Free Speech, Free Speech Reform, PIPA, Scotland, SOPA, TPP1, UK, United Kingdom, USA, Wales
Together, we beat SOPA in a huge victory for internet freedom. But this Saturday, internet freedom protests are breaking out in over 200 cities across Europe. Why? Because the companies behind SOPA are using international trade agreements as a backdoor to pass SOPA-style laws SOPA’s supporters are pushing two agreements: ACTA and TPP1. ACTA would criminalize users, encourage internet providers to spy on you, and make it easier for media companies to sue sites out of existence and jail their founders. Sound familiar? That’s right, ACTA is from the same playbook as SOPA, but global. Plus it didn’t even have to pass through Congress2. TPP goes even farther than ACTA, and the process has been even more secretive and corrupt. Last weekend (we wish this was a joke) trade negotiators partied with MPAA (pro-SOPA) lobbyists before secret negotiations in a Hollywood hotel, while public interest groups were barred from meeting in the same building.3 Trade agreements are a gaping loophole, a secretive backdoor track that–even though it creates new laws–is miles removed from democracy. Trade negotiators are unelected and unaccountable, so these agreements have been very hard for internet rights groups to stop. But now the tide is turning. Fueled by the movement to stop SOPA, anti-ACTA protests are breaking out across the EU, which hasn’t ratified ACTA. The protests are having an impact: leaders in Poland, the Czech Republic, and Slovakia have backtracked on ACTA.4 Now a massive round of street protests in over 200 cities is planned for this Saturday February 11th. We’re planning an online protest this Saturday to support the protests in the streets. Why? Because together we can drive millions of emails to key decision makers–and start tipping the scales like we did on SOPA. Can you take part? Use these codes on your website <script src=’http://killacta.org/popup.js’></script> <script src=’http://killacta.org/popup-euonly.js’></script> <iframe src=”http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?msid=212120558776447282985.0004b7b33e16f13c710c7&msa=0&ie=UTF8&t=m&ll=16.350082,-86.79903&spn=87.63752,240.331077&output=embed” frameborder=”0″ marginwidth=”0″ marginheight=”0″ scrolling=”no” width=”590″ height=”300″></iframe> We just built an ACTA & TPP contact tool, and it’s not just a petition. It’s code for your site that figures out the visitor’s country and lets them email all their Members of European Parliament–the politicians who will be voting on ACTA in June–or the trade negotiators behind TPP. This direct contact between voters and their officials, driven by websites of all sizes, was instrumental in the fight against SOPA. We can use the same tactics to defeat ACTA & TPP, but we need your help! Support the street protests with a flood of emails to the officials responsible for ACTA & TPP. Get the code for your website! Don’t have a website? Tell officials in your country to scrap ACTA & TPP! And spread the word about Saturday’s protests! This is going to be tough fight. But we need to make secretive trade agreements harder to pass than US law. If we don’t, our internet’s future belongs to the lobbyists behind SOPA. This is...
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Posted by Administration on Jan 18, 2012 in Censorship, Free Speech, Free Speech Reform, Freedom of Expression, Google, Laws, PIPA, SOPA, USA
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). The ruling is ridiculously depressing. The Justices basically just keep repeating the mantra they first set forth in Eldred, that as long as Congress says it’s okay — and that the “fair use” and the “idea/expression” dichotomy remain — all is just dandy. They also claim that since the very first copyright law took works from the public domain and gave them copyright protection, clearly there’s nothing wrong with removing works from the public domain. This decision reinforces why the Eldred decision was a complete disaster, and just keeps getting worse. The Eldred ruling basically ignored the fact that copyright had changed entirely in a way that went against the First Amendment… by retroactively granting copyright extension. Now that ruling is being used to take works out of the public domain as well. First, as with Eldred (and the second case in the trilogy, the Kahle case), I believe that the Court is greatly mistaken in its analysis of copyright law. First it claims that there’s little fight between copyright and the First Amendment because the two things were put in place at about the same time. That’s a specious argument for a variety of reasons. First, the original copyright law was significantly limited in a way that it was unlikely to really come into conflict with the First Amendment. It was limited to just a few specific areas, and for a very short period of time. It’s only now that (1) copyright law has been totally flipped to make just about everything you create covered by copyright, (2) the law has been massively expanded in time and (3) changes in technology make us all create tons of “copyrighted” material all the time — things have changed an entirely. It’s hard to see how the Court can reasonably argue that the traditional contours of copyright law have not changed… but that’s exactly what it does. Stunningly, the majority decision here, written by...
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Posted by Administration on Jan 18, 2012 in Free Speech, Free Speech Reform, Freedom of Expression, Google, Laws, PIPA, SOPA, USA
More about SOPA and PIPA Members of Congress are trying to do the right thing by going after pirates and counterfeiters but SOPA and PIPA are the wrong way to do it. Sign the petition here 1. SOPA and PIPA would censor the Web The U.S. government could order the blocking of sites using methods similar to those employed by China. Among other things, search engines could be forced to delete entire websites from their search results. That’s why 41 human rights organizations and 110 prominent law professors have expressed grave concerns about the bills. 2. SOPA and PIPA would be job-killers because they would create a new era of uncertainty for American business Law-abiding U.S. internet companies would have to monitor everything users link to or upload or face the risk of time-consuming litigation. That’s why AOL, EBay, Facebook, Google, LinkedIn, Mozilla, Twitter, Yahoo and Zynga wrote a letter to Congress saying these bills “pose a serious risk to our industry’s continued track record of innovation and job-creation.” It’s also why 55 of America’s most successful venture capitalists expressed concern that PIPA “would stifle investment in Internet services, throttle innovation, and hurt American competitiveness”. More than 204 entrepreneurs told Congress that PIPA and SOPA would “hurt economic growth and chill innovation”. 3. SOPA and PIPA wouldn’t stop piracy To make matters worse, SOPA and PIPA won’t even work. The censorship regulations written into these bills won’t shut down pirate sites. These sites will just change their addresses and continue their criminal activities, while law-abiding companies will suffer high penalties for breaches they can’t possibly control. There are effective ways to combat foreign “rogue” websites dedicated to copyright infringement and trademark counterfeiting, while preserving the innovation and dynamism that have made the Internet such an important driver of American economic growth and job creation. Congress should consider alternatives like the OPEN Act, which takes targeted and focused steps to cut off the money supply from foreign pirate sites without making US companies censor the Web. Information provided by © Google ™ (The Best Internet Search Engine in the...
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Posted by Administration on Dec 28, 2011 in England, Free Speech, Free Speech Reform, Libel Laws, Scotland, UK, USA, Wales
UK: Draft Defamation Bill Posted on April 5, 2011 by Adrianos Facchetti American defamation lawyers and others have criticized British Libel law for years; and for good reason. Among other things, English law requires the defendant to prove the truth of the alleged defamatory statement, whereas in the U.S., in most states, and in most circumstances, the plaintiff must prove falsity. Because of England’s pro-plaintiff laws, it has become a destination for plaintiffs looking to find the most favorable forum in which to file suit, AKA “Libel Tourism.” But now it looks like this is all about to change. The Draft Defamation Bill published by the Ministry of Justice last month, seems to be a step in the right direction. While I haven’t read the entire 132 page document just yet (just skimmed it), it is clear that this bill was written, at least in part, in response to the ” . . . perception that [its] courts are an attractive forum for libel claimants with little connection to this country, so that [its] law is respected internationally.” Obviously the Brits care what the international community thinks, so I think some potentially major changes are on the horizon. I’ll write a more detailed post regarding the draft bill when I get a chance. For now, here is a copy for your reading pleasure: UK Draft Defamation Bill. More to...
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