An internet blackout and protests online and in person helped grind anti-piracy legislation to a halt in congress. But the fight isn’t over yet. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) called off a vote on the controversial Protect IP Act (PIPA) after Wednesday’s internet blackout and statements from the president indicating that more discussion was […]
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Forbes contributor writes: Both SOPA and Protect IP attempt to combat online piracy by preventing American search engines like Google and Yahoo from directing users to sites distributing stolen content. Both bills also would enable people and companies to sue if their copyright was infringed. Obama has come out against both bills, which killed SOPA and puts […]
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Wikipedia, one of the most highly trafficked websites in the world, along with the popular, highly trafficked community Reddit will both go dark Wednesday, January 18th. The sites are blacking out to protest controversial anti-piracy legislation in the House and Senate. Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales took to Twitter to talk about the coming blackout. “This […]
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Lost in the discussion of internet censorship, anti-piracy measures, and the politics of the internet is a simple question: does piracy actually cause economic harm? Tim O’Reilly read the White House statement on the SOPA / PIPA legislation and came away with mixed feelings. “I found myself profoundly disturbed by something that seems to me […]
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Concerns over anti-piracy bills in congress are finally beginning to influence lawmakers. SOPA architect Lamar Smith is, apparently, listening – especially now that the Obama administration is voicing its own concerns over the legislation. In a statement, Smith said he will remove controversial DNS-blocking rules from the bill, though his counterpart in the Senate, Patrick […]
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The White House has responded to two anti-SOPA petitions at the White House blog today. “While we believe that online piracy by foreign websites is a serious problem that requires a serious legislative response,” the post said, “we will not support legislation that reduces freedom of expression, increases cybersecurity risk, or undermines the dynamic, innovative […]
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Police action against Occupy protesters has been over the top, but that doesn’t mean that the government and economic elites are coordinating the crackdown. Much to the dismay of those of us who value civil liberties and the right to peaceful dissent, the nascent Occupy movement has been met with violence at numerous protests around the […]
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Whatever the merits of the gold standard, I don’t see it happening in the next five years. Where is the political will? Ron Paul remains steady in the polls, even surging a bit lately, but still a long ways from the White House. And unless I’m mistaken, Paul is the only serious contender for the […]
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When Anwar al-Awlaki, a US citizen and radical Muslim, was killed by US special ops in Yemen recently many Americans assumed the kill was authorized by president Obama. This was either praised as bold foreign policy or decried as a bridge too far depending on where you turned. But the story might actually be much […]
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Timothy Noah asks: Who, besides William Howard Taft (300+ pounds)–who may or may not have gotten stuck in the White House bathtub but certainly arranged for a bigger one to be installed there–were America’s fattest presidents? Naturally, this is a question spawned by the possibility of a Chris Christie run for the presidency. It turns […]
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