Avaaz - ACTA: The new threat to the net

Avaaz - ACTA: The new threat to the net: "ACTA - a global treaty - could allow corporations to censor the Internet. Negotiated in secret by a small number of rich countries and corporate powers, it would set up a shadowy new anti-counterfeiting body to allow private interests to police everything that we do online and impose massive penalties -- even prison sentences -- against people they say have harmed their business."

The internet represents the last true public platform for freedom of expression. If you think that your rights are secure and unfettered you are asleep. Please read this and sign, it is a very easy way to fight for what is right. The interne is the result of research funded by us.
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SOPA Is Dead: Smith Pulls Bill

SOPA Is Dead: Smith Pulls Bill: "Lamar Smith, the chief sponsor of SOPA, said on Friday that he is pulling the bill “until there is wider agreement on a solution.”

“I have heard from the critics and I take seriously their concerns regarding proposed legislation to address the problem of online piracy,” Smith (R-Texas) said. “It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products.”"
This is some of the best news possible. I wish I could say I had more of a hand in this other than just raising awareness, but I am proud to live in a country where you can actually be heard sometimes. This bill would not only have been the end of the internet, but it would chill democracy and lead to massive piracy and crime-up to and including a full-blown Darknet that everyone used instead of the internet. Think of the Interstate and rail systems in the U.S. being owned and operated by the Russian mafia. SOPA was the worst idea in the history of bad ideas.
Thank God Lamar Smith had the brains to read the writing on the wall. The next time around it'll be waayyyy sneakier-probably hidden inside another bill.
Be wary, Monkeys.
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