Pied Type
Law
Semantics in religion and law
I’m still scratching my head over the furor with Pres. Obama and the Catholic Church about providing contraception for employees. As I understand it, the edict from Washington originally said all Catholic institutions had to cover/pay for/provide contraception for female employees. Church leaders and others had a fit about Obama’s “war on religion.” Obama came … Continue reading
SOPA/PIPA victory: Behind the scenes
OpenCongress.org played a big role in the success of the Internet’s Stop SOPA movement. This is their wrap-up of how we and they succeeded: Last month’s flurry of Stop-PIPA & Stop-SOPA online protests were an apex of activity for OpenCongress. Not only was January 18th, 2012 the single-highest day of traffic on OC since our … Continue reading
Europe to protest ACTA on Feb. 11
Europe is getting fired up for ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement) protests Saturday, February 11. There’s much less activity in the U.S. because our government has already signed the trade agreement. If ACTA is beaten down in Europe, it fails as a whole, so do what you can to support the European protests.
Feb. 12 set as international day of action against ACTA
February 11, 2012, has been set as the international day of action against ACTA (Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement). See Joseph Hall’s Blog for a history of Internet copyright protection legislation, plus details and links about ACTA, the day of action, and petitions you can sign. The U.S. has already signed the agreement, but we can support … Continue reading
SOPA/PIPA, ACTA, TTP: Where does it end?
Hoo, boy. I hadn’t even gotten around to commenting on ACTA, the international Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Act, which was enacted in virtual secrecy, but now there’s discussion of a new intellectual property chapter for TPP, the Trans-Pacific Partnership. The discussions are — you guessed it — secret. Call me old-fashioned, but to me “secret” means you’re … Continue reading
Note to the GOP candidates
One of you will probably get your party’s nomination, but while you’re busy doing hatchet jobs on each other, I for one am getting thoroughly sick of you. At the rate you are shredding each other, the survivor will be in no condition to run a creditable general campaign. I suppose that’s fine with people … Continue reading
Twitter caves on censorship overseas
Twitter has announced it will self-censor itself in foreign countries to satisfy the laws of those nations. Or, as Bloomberg, reports it, Twitter “gave itself extra flexibility to censor…” The New York Times calls it micro-censorship. Whatever, after the SOPA/PIPA fight in this country to prevent Internet censorship, it is particularly discouraging to read that … Continue reading
SOPA/PIPA status report
RE SOPA/PIPA legislation, Congress.org has run a nice little summation. But stay tuned and stay connected. Expect SOPA/PIPA 2.0 in the future. And be ready with Stop SOPA/PIPA 2.0.
Santorum: Raped? Pregnant? It’s a gift
Just when I thought GOP presidential candidate Rick Santorum couldn’t impress me as any more extreme, I saw this video on the Huffington Post. His idea of right to life includes not aborting a baby resulting from rape. Not even if the pregnant woman were his daughter. The woman must “make the best out of … Continue reading
Wanted: A WordPress ‘Disable Reblog’ option
I saw my first example of WordPress’s new “Reblog” feature in use today (I hope JW won’t mind if you pop over for a look). Admittedly when the feature was announced, I didn’t pay much attention, but now that I’ve seen it in action, I’m concerned. My first thought is that it grabs excessively long … Continue reading
Try this on for size
We’ve heard a lot of discussion in recent weeks about copyright and trademark law on the Internet, but I’m not going there again, at least not this time. No, this is about a different trademark infringement issue which you might or might not have heard about. Shoes. Or rather, their soles. Specifically, red soles. At … Continue reading
The long arm of U.S. copyright law
My, my, how convenient. What fortuitous timing. A major Internet file-sharing site based in Hong Kong, Megaupload.com, was shut down yesterday, just a day after America’s anti-SOPA/PIPA blackout. New Zealand authorities arrested the site’s founder, Kim Dotcom, a dual citizen of Finland and Germany living in New Zealand, for violation of U.S. copyright laws. If that … Continue reading
Reid yields, postpones Senate’s PIPA vote
Woot! Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid has buckled and postponed the U.S. Senate vote on PIPA originally scheduled for next Tuesday! Details at PCWorld and elsewhere. All the “shelving” and “postponing” of SOPA/PIPA legislation is probably just a maneuver, waiting for the heat and attention to fade, before reviving the censorship efforts. But for the … Continue reading
SOPA/PIPA protest: 4.5 million signed Google petition
The LA Times reported some of the numbers we, the SOPA/PIPA opposition, accrued on Wednesday’s day of protest. Avaaz.org reported 1.458 million signatures (now 2.3 million and still climbing) on their petition. Sopastrike.com and AmericanCensorship.org, both run by Fight for the Future, reported that at least 350,000 million people sent emails to Congress through their … Continue reading
The Great American Blackout: It’s not over yet
Apologies to those readers inconvenienced when I failed to take down my blackout screen last night. I’d intended to do it at midnight (MT), but forgot. Midnight is not my brightest hour. I can’t remember the last time I was so excited about being a part of something big — really big — and important. … Continue reading
The Day the LOLcats Died
Just want to spotlight (for after the blackout) a clever little anti-censorship video, The Day the LOLcats Died. The video appears today on I Can Haz Cheeseburger, mecca for lovers of cats and humor. It asks a pivotal question: “Why, why are laws a thing you can buy?”
Way to go, Wikipedia!
Wow, check out that gorgeous Wikipedia blackout page (assuming you’re not in the Eastern time zone)! I’m actually a little misty eyed …
Leahy claims blackout sponsors ‘misunderstand’ PIPA legislation
A Politico post this evening quotes Sen. Patrick Leahy, (D-VT), author of the Senate’s Protect IP Act (PIPA), who issued a dismissive statement today. Referring to Wikipedia, Reddit, and other companies supporting tomorrow’s Internet blackout, he said: Perhaps if these companies would participate constructively, they could point to what in the actual legislation they contend … Continue reading
Finally, a WordPress setting for SOPA blackout!
WordPress.com has finally installed and announced an option that gives you a way to blackout your blog tomorrow for The Great American SOPA/PIPA Blackout. It will also put a protest ribbon on each page of your blog until January 24, the day the Senate is scheduled to vote on PIPA. Just go to Dashboard > … Continue reading
SOPA, PIPA: We WILL be heard
In addition to information and links about SOPA and PIPA, the following quotation appears on an Anonymous website: I am aware that many object to the severity of my language; but is there not cause for severity? I will be as harsh as truth, and as uncompromising as justice. On this subject, I do not … Continue reading
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