Sunday 28th of April 2024

the price of knowing...

wikistrike'

As a result, the legislative battle over two once-obscure bills to combat the looting of American movies, music, books and writing on the World Wide Web may prove to be a turning point for the way business is done in Washington. It represented a moment when the new economy rose up against the old.

“I think it is an important moment in the Capitol,” said Representative Zoe Lofgren, Democrat of California and an important opponent of the antipiracy legislation. “Too often, legislation is about competing business interests. This is way beyond that. This is individual citizens rising up.”

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/01/19/technology/web-protests-piracy-bill-and-2-key-senators-change-course.html?_r=1&hp

I know nufin'...

New social media guidelines for public servants have been dubbed laughable, unworkable and backward.

The new rules, released by the Australian Public Service Commission, state that public servants have the same right to freedom of expression as other members of the community - with a few exceptions.

Workers are not allowed to make comments about the government or government policy "so harsh or extreme" that their impartiality would be compromised.

This includes comments which are made outside of office hours and unrelated to the employee's area of work.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-01-19/new-public-service-social-media-rules-27laughable27/3780926?WT.svl=news3

undemocratic and violate human rights...

Tim Berners-Lee says US government plan to censor the internet violates human rights.

The father of the web has added his voice to the global chorus of outrage at US Government plans to censor the internet, saying its plans are undemocratic and violate human rights.


Read more: http://www.smh.com.au/it-pro/business-it/father-of-the-web-backs-sopa-protests-20120119-1q7rm.html#ixzz1ju9cWFpo

halted sopa debate...

The US Congress has halted debate on two contested anti-online piracy bills.

Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid delayed a vote on the Protect IP Act (Pipa) scheduled for Tuesday.

House Judiciary Committee Chairman Lamar Smith then said his panel would not consider the Stop Online Piracy Act (Sopa) until a compromise was reached.

The decisions follow protests by online encyclopaedia Wikipedia, and thousands of other websites, which went "dark" in protest for 24 hours earlier this week.

"In light of recent events, I have decided to postpone Tuesday's vote on the PROTECT IP Act," Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, a Democrat, said in a statement on Friday.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-16655272