Posts tagged politics
“That the charges in the trials often referred to events that had occurred decades earlier, that witchcraft was made a crimen exceptum, that is, a crime to be investigated by special means, torture included, and it was punishable even in the absence of any proven damage to…
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TechDirt:
He didn’t get sick or have something better to do. Hell, he didn’t even miss a flight. Instead, according to Schneier, the TSA itself had him removed from the panel:
On Friday, at the request of the TSA, I was removed from the witness list. The excuse was that I am involved in a lawsuit against the TSA, trying to get them to suspend their full-body scanner program. But it’s pretty clear that the TSA is afraid of public testimony on the topic, and especially of being challenged in front of Congress. They want to control the story, and it’s easier for them to do that if I’m not sitting next to them pointing out all the holes in their position. Unfortunately, the committee went along with them.As Tim Lee notes in reporting on this story, the TSA has done similar things in the past, and even been rebuked by Rep. Jason Chaffetz — and yet it had no problem doing it again. The fact that Schneier is a part of that lawsuit is meaningless and shouldn’t stop him from testifying at all. Schneier is a clear thorn in the side of the TSA, and if it’s so afraid of having him speak to Congress, that really says a lot about the (lack of) confidence it has in its own arguments. If you can’t stand to let a critic speak, it suggests that perhaps your own argument isn’t very strong.
SARAH PALIN, on Fox “News,” talking about something.
Game changer.
—-
Annnnnnd THIS exemplifies why I use the phrase “Sarah Palin stupid” to describe certain things.
(via wilwheaton)
(via wilwheaton)
Oh look, Jon Stewart. Hay boo haaay.
BOOM
Frothy Lube is unfit to hold public office. He is more suited for the Taliban.
The world makes me sad, but at least Jon Stewart exists.
ACTA passed one of the several voting gates it needs to get through before becoming law.
It was ratified in Poland last night. This was the scene at Polish parliament afterwards, as (presumably) a bloc of anti-ACTA politicians expressed their displeasure and, perhaps without knowing it, foretell of the Anonymous repercussions to this bill.
Some things you should know:
- Online petitions are meaningless. While they are well-intentioned and organized, the signing of a digital petition takes about twenty seconds, and does not require that you leave your beanbag chair in the coal cellar. Politicians know this, and pay just as much attention to online petitions as is warranted by a “political action” that is literally less strenuous than leaving a YouTube comment.
- Nothing except direct action is going to do a goddamn thing. This means getting out in the street, it means DDoSing, it means vicious and widespread boycotts, site blackouts, and other strongarm tactics that actually impact the flow of money from corporations to lobbyists to politicians. How do you, as a tiny flailing consumer, do this? You can’t, really. You can join up with groups that are intent on doing actions that actually mean something, adding your voice to a chorus of hundreds or thousands, instead of screaming alone. You can contact celebrities, the spokespeople of our time, as ask them to leverage their followers on the issue. You can write to Tumblr and ask for more blackouts. None of these things will be very effective, so don’t be too disappointed when they don’t work, but they sure as fuck are more effective than online petitions, and the intense response to SOPA by corporations and consumers was responsible for getting it “tabled” (not dead, but dreaming lies).
- ACTA was already signed by Obama in September of 2011. He had been praising the bill for over a year prior, and signed it without reservation. Most of us didn’t hear about it, and he likely used the 9/11 coverage to make sure of that.
- Eventually, one of these bills will pass, and the pro-corporate laws will go into effect. Expect it. Be prepared. Learn to circumvent this garbage and you’ll have a leg up when the feds shut down the internet as we know it.
- The best thing you can do now is install Tor and learn how to use it. Tor is free software and an open network that helps you defend against a form of network surveillance that threatens personal freedom and privacy, confidential business activities and relationships, and state security known as traffic analysis. In order to circumvent the coming corporate takeover of the web, we’re going to have to go underground, creating a sub-internet of encrypted nodes known as a “darknet”. It’s probably going to be like the internet was in the beginning, with most people only seeing what AOL wanted them to see, and only a small group of super-nerds existing outside of that bubble in the “real” internet. It’ll take another twenty years for them to catch up to us again.
- Welcome to the grim cyberpunk future.
Marco Arment has this exactly right. We may have beaten these variations of SOPA and PIPA, but the sad fact of that matter is that they — or something like them — will eventually pass.
Obviously, all things being equal, such bills should never pass. But all things aren’t equal. As with most things, this is actually all about money. The MPAA and the other content lobbies are going to continue to pump money into this until they get what they want.
And again, they will. Consider this: SOPA and PIPA came this close to passing with MPAA head Chris Assclown Dodd banned from direct lobbying. Why is he banned? Because there’s a law that requires politicians to be two years out of office before they can lobby.
Dodd vacated his U.S. Senate seat on January 3, 2011. In a year, he’ll be able lobby all he wants. He’ll be able to directly buy the support of all his former colleagues. He spent 36 years in Washington as both a Senator and Congressman. You think that doesn’t matter? He’s going to be the best lobbyist ever. Which is exactly why the MPAA picked him.
Arment’s hope that people stop supporting the MPAA by stopping watching films clearly isn’t going to happen. But the idea of supporting campaign finance reform to eliminate bullshit lobbying is a good one.
Doomed.
Behold! What the Stop SOPA blackout managed to accomplish in 24 hours.
Abuse of power. Totally.
Also, insanely glad that @herpderpedia is not representative of the population as a whole.
(via cwby)
Man sends Telegram to get Senator’s attention, after realizing she doesn’t have a twitter.
(click for larger)
STOP SOPA
THE ESSENTIALS:
- Summary and bill text of SOPA - H.R. 3261: link
- Summary and bill text of PIPA - S.968: link
- Congressmen who support SOPA and how much money in donations they received to support it: link
IN DEPTH:
- Companies that support SOPA - link
- Companies that oppose SOPA & PIPA - link
- Video: What is PIPA and how will it affect you? link
- SOPA 101: An Infographic - link
- Tech Law & Policy: House takes Senate’s bad Internet censorship bill, tries making it worse - Analysis of SOPA & PIPA - link
GET INVOLVED:
- Take Action Checklist to Stop Censorship - link
- Join @YourAnonNews and @AnonymousIRC and pledge not to tweet between 8AM-8PM EST (1300-0100 UTC) on 18 January [check your local timezone here - Use hashtags #SOPAblackout and #J18
- Add the following banners to your Twitter pic: “CENSORED” - link | “STOP SOPA” - link
- How to contact Facebook and Google to support the January 18 SOPA blackout - link
- Contact your local Representative with info and a widget to find them by EFF and Wired for Change - link
(via wilwheaton)
