Long Live the Web: A Call for Continued Open Standards and Neutrality. Samples of SOPA blackout sites. This Is the Internet After SOPA [PICS] Today, many popular websites are going "dark" in protest of Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA). The consensus among many experts, Internet users, web companies and even the White House, is that SOPA is too restrictive, too dangerous, too complicated and too big of a threat to our privacy. In a way, today's blackout shows what the Internet might look if some of the principles in SOPA start being enforced as law. Do you like seeing big "CLOSED" signs on your favorite websites? Neither do we. SEE ALSO: Why SOPA Is Dangerous We've gathered the screenshots of sites that are protesting SOPA with a blackout in the gallery above, and will be adding additional pics as more sites join in.
Why SOPA Is Dangerous. I'm sure you've heard by now that SOPA is bad and would ruin the Internet, but have you actually read the bill? If not, it's worth reading, for two reasons. First, if you are going to oppose a bill, you should know exactly what you're opposing, not just the vague principle behind it. Second, it'll provide you with a valuable insight: that these bills are written in an attempt to obscure the truth. First off, I'm going to qualify that I'm not a lawyer. However, I am a programmer, and that's made me pretty good at unraveling spaghetti code. If ever a bill was spaghetti, this is it. If a programmer on my team wrote code as convoluted as this bill, I would fire him on the spot. Here is the full text of the bill, as of Jan. 15, 2012. The Scalpel Section 102(a)(2) permits the attorney general to take action against foreign sites (i.e., sites that do not fall under U.S. jurisdiction) if "the owner or operator of such Internet site is facilitating the commission of [copyright infringement].
" Scrub Off Ur Freedom. Panopticlick. Anonymity Online. Collusion. E+Brief+Censorship+law+-+questions+and+answers.pdf (application/pdf-Objekt) Die Zensur im Netz: Interview mit "Wikileaks" Net neutrality clone. Net Neutrality. Posted by Eric Schmidt, Chairman and CEO of Google, and Lowell McAdam, President and CEO of Verizon Wireless (Cross-posted on the Verizon PolicyBlog.) Verizon and Google might seem unlikely bedfellows in the current debate around network neutrality, or an open Internet. And while it's true we do disagree quite strongly about certain aspects of government policy in this area -- such as whether mobile networks should even be part of the discussion -- there are many issues on which we agree.
For starters we both think it's essential that the Internet remains an unrestricted and open platform -- where people can access any content (so long as it's legal), as well as the services and applications of their choice. There are two key factors driving innovation on the web today. First is the programming language of the Internet, which was designed over forty years ago by engineers who wanted the freedom to communicate from any computer, anywhere in the world. Finally, transparency is a must. == Free Culture / Free Content == Freie Netze. Freies Wissen. - Freiheit vor Ort - Handbuch kommunale Netzpolitik.
[!] Respect My Net. We Fight Censorship. Net Neutrality 101. When we log onto the Internet, we take lots of things for granted. We assume that we'll be able to access whatever Web site we want, whenever we want to go there. We assume that we can use any feature we like -- watching online video, listening to podcasts, searching, e-mailing and instant messaging -- anytime we choose. We assume that we can attach devices like wireless routers, game controllers or extra hard drives to make our online experience better. What makes all these assumptions possible is "Network Neutrality," the guiding principle that preserves the free and open Internet. Net Neutrality means that Internet service providers may not discriminate between different kinds of content and applications online. It guarantees a level playing field for all Web sites and Internet technologies.
But all that could change. The biggest cable and telephone companies would like to charge money for smooth access to Web sites, speed to run applications, and permission to plug in devices. How neutral is the net? ONI Home Page. Save the Internet | Join the fight for Internet Freedom. :: The Future of the Internet — And How to Stop It. HerdictWeb. Electronic Frontier Foundation | Defending Freedom in the Digita. Action Center. Lost Hacking Documentary Surfaces on Pirate Bay | Threat Level | After collecting cobwebs in a studio vault for the better part of a decade, an unreleased documentary on the 2003 hacking scene leaked onto the Pirate Bay Thursday. Lamo says the film had been bogged down by conflicts among the producers and crew.
“It’s ironic that a film about overcoming barriers, about new technologies, about thinking differently, had to come to the public eye by being hacked out of the hands of people who, after making a film about the free flow of information, tried to lock away that information forever,” says Lamo. “The truth tends to itself.” Lamo adds that he had nothing to do with the leak. Lamo made his mark early in the decade with a string of brazen hacks against large companies, characterized by a flair and sense of humor that appear quaint in today’s era of for-profit hacking and multi-million credit card theft. Unemployed and prone to wander the country by Greyhound, Lamo gained the appellation “the Homeless Hacker.” See Also: