Obama And ISP’s To Launch Largest Digital Spying Scheme In History (Must Read)
If you download potentially copyrighted software, videos or music, your Internet service provider (ISP) has been watching, and they’re coming for you.
Specifically, they’re coming for you on Thursday, July 1.
That’s the date when the nation’s largest ISPs will all voluntarily implement a new anti-piracy plan that will engage network operators in the largest digital spying scheme in history, and see some users’ bandwidth completely cut off until they sign an agreement saying they will not download copyrighted materials.
Word of the start date has been largely kept secret since ISPs announced their plans last June. The deal was brokered by the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the Motion Picture Association of America (MPAA), and coordinated by the Obama Administration. The same groups have weighed in heavily on controversial Internet policies around the world, with similar facilitation by the Obama’s Administration’s State Department.
The July 12 date was revealed by the RIAA’s CEO and top lobbyist, Cary Sherman, during a publishers’ conference on Wednesday in New York, according to technology publication CNet.
The content industries calls this scheme a “graduated response” plan, which will see
-Time Warner Cable
-Cablevision
-Comcast
-Verizon
-AT&T
and others spying on users’ Internet activities and watching for potential copyright infringement. Users who are “caught” infringing on a creator’s protected work can then be interrupted with a notice that piracy is forbidden by law and carries penalties of up to $150,000 per infringement, requiring the user to click through saying they understand the consequences before bandwidth is restored, and they could still be subject to copyright infringement lawsuits.
Response: This is much worse than SOPA/PIPA and ACTA. It doesn’t necessarily censor the internet but it spys on everything you do. Your ENTIRE web history will be watched and recorded and might even assist the government. This was coordinated by Obama and his administration with the help of the MPAA and RIAA.
What is so dangerous about this is that this is not a law it is a policy adopted by several companies. That means this will not be debated in Congress and you will agree to be spied on by signing a contract with the company.
Internet censorship is becoming a reality and now the corporate elite will legally be able to spy on you. If we spread this and cause an uproar like what we did with SOPA, maybe they will back down. Either way people NEED to know about this.
So basically 1984. SHIT.
Goodbye, First Amendment: ‘Trespass Bill’ will make protest illegal:
Just when you thought the government couldn’t ruin the First Amendment any further: The House of Representatives approved a bill on Monday that outlaws protests in instances where some government officials are nearby, whether or not you even know it.
The US House of Representatives voted 388-to-3 in favor of H.R. 347 late Monday, a bill which is being dubbed the Federal Restricted Buildings and Grounds Improvement Act of 2011. In the bill, Congress officially makes it illegal to trespass on the grounds of the White House, which, on the surface, seems not just harmless and necessary, but somewhat shocking that such a rule isn’t already on the books. The wording in the bill, however, extends to allow the government to go after much more than tourists that transverse the wrought iron White House fence.
Under the act, the government is also given the power to bring charges against Americans engaged in political protest anywhere in the country.
This bill makes it a federal offense to protest anywhere someone protected by the Secret Service (including Rick Santorum) is or might be in the near future. In other words: glitter bombing? Federal offense. Protesting in front of city hall? Potential federal offense.
THIS is an affront to the First Amendment, not requiring insurers to cover birth control. Sigh.
-Jess
Thirteen years ago Dylan Klebold and Eric Harris opened fire on their classmates, killing thirteen people and injuring two dozen more. It wasn’t long before the finger pointing started: the musician Marilyn Manson, the video game Doom, the film ‘The Basketball Diaries,’ and Goth Culture all were blasted in the media as contributing factors.
Yesterday a seventeen year old kid walked into a high school in Ohio and shot five other kids.
Today, three of those five, Demetrius Hewlin, Russell King Jr., and Daniel Parmertor, are now dead.
Senseless, unfathomable violence at the heart of another American tragedy as a community and a nation again ask the same question: why?
Undoubtedly there will be much discussion of the motivation behind the crime in the coming weeks, and some of it will probably circle back to the topic of popular media and whether violent movies, music, and video games lead to violent behavior.
And in this cloud of mourning and questions, The Hunger Games, a book-turned-movie about the horror of kids killing kids, will premiere.
Fans of The Hunger Games already understand that the violence in the series is not glorified, that the message of the series is that such violence is wrong, and that even ‘necessary’ violence is still tragic. It’s always ugly, painful, and destructive.
Jennifer Lawrence said it best in her audition for Katniss Everdeen: when she kills, she’s not badass. She’s broken.
Unfortunately, there will be people out there, media pundits, politicians, parental groups, that will not take the time to understand The Hunger Games, and will instead latch onto it as another contributor to the American ‘culture of violence.’
As a country mourns the loss of three young people, we must take extreme care to be good ambassadors of a series that many may be questioning in the next weeks. Most Hunger Games fans already do this exceptionally well by engaging each other in dialogues about the political, social, and ethical messages in the books, by exploring these themes in fan fiction and fan art, and by taking the messages of anti-violence and equity to heart and working to better the world around them.
However, little of that will matter if there is even a (small) minority of fans misrepresenting and/or glorifying the violence. This includes everything from lamenting that a PG-13 rating won’t be explicit enough (no one should need to see the violence to feel the emotional impact of its aftermath) to off-handed comments about how ‘cool’ or ‘awesome’ it would be to a Tribute in the Games (it’s neither- that’s the whole point of the series, that there is no glory in violence).
Moving forward from this tragedy, please take the time to think about what you’re saying—what you’re wishing for—because today in Ohio there are three kids who will never speak or dream again and families and friends who are mourning their very real loss.
Emphasis mine.
There is currently an ethnic cleansing of black people going on in Lybia and it is reported NOWHERE in the major news outlets, which like most westerners, supported the racist thugs of Tripoli!!
Will black people be wiped out for the second time on African soil by Arabs while the international community - that armed and supported the rebels - says NOTHING??
The Tawerghas, a tribe of black Libyans in the South of the country, are being systematically targeted and killed by the new regime of Tripoli!!
Police agencies in the United States to begin using drones in 90 days
Coming soon to the skies above you — drones, drones and more drones.
And all giving police and who knows who else the chance to peek into your backyard.
Legislation just signed by President Obama directs the Federal Aviation Administration to open the skies to remotely controlled drones within the next three years. It will begin in 90 days with police and first responders having authority to fly smaller drones of less than 4.4 pounds at altitudes under 400 feet. Gradually, all drones are to be allowed by Sept. 30, 2015.
The use of drones had been restricted out of civilian aviation safety concerns created by a sky full of drones flown by untrained operators in the same space as aircraft. But that was overridden by successful lobbying of drone makers and customers who will reap the financial benefits for commercial purposes. “The market for drones is valued at $5.9 billion and is expected to double in the next decade,” the New York Times reported.
They can be used by real estate agents to snap aerial photos. But then, given costs and ease of use, what will stop a member of the paparazzi or any other prying photographer from using them to get more personal snapshots? The Times report said a $300 drone can be flown from an iPhone.
The planned expansion extends the militarization of law enforcement that has been going with the adaptation of military technology and strategies to civilian law enforcement. Police see several advantages to drones over other surveillance.
The pilotless craft cost less, are cheaper to operate and can remain airborne longer. They can be used as a crimefighting tool to patrol from the skies. Authorities can monitor traffic, search remote areas for missing persons or watch criminal suspects. But, then, police can watch a political rally, silently from 30,000 feet overhead.
But also alarming is the danger of escalating their use to include weapons. Drone builders are researching the use of nonlethal weapons such as tear gas, tasers and stun guns fired from a drone, and lethal weaponry can be an easy next step on the slippery slope.
The drones will add to the erosion of privacy that has come with the ubiquitous cameras and global positioning systems that can monitor our whereabouts.
The new law is concerned with safety in establishing guidelines and training requirements for operators. It will be up to governments and even the courts to enact constitutional safeguards on their use.
(Source: socialuprooting)
Reflections Portraits by Tom Hussey
Tom Hussey portrays old people looking at their younger reflection in the mirror. These photographs are beautiful and melancholic.
This gave me chills
Iranian film director ASGHAR FARHADI, on accepting his Academy Award for Best Foreign Film, A Separation (via inothernews)
Such a great and elegant speech.
(via -saturdaynightlive)
This is important. Please spread
#things that are really not at all okay
also, we need to reinforce the idea that mental illnesses aren’t inherently bad, and the people that have them shouldn’t be devalued for simply fucking having them.
(Source: graydayson)
