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The United States Immigration and Customs Enforcement , part of the Department of Homeland Security, has seized 82 domain names that it contends are responsible for facilitating IP infringement (and perhaps infringing themselves). The seizures have prompted some outrage, and some head-scratching. The head-scratching has been by lawyers (and normal people) trying to figure out the legal basis for the seizure.
Info/Law » U.S. Gets In on Censorship Action
One in three people in Switzerland download unauthorized music, movies and games from the Internet and since last year the government has been wondering what to do about it. This week their response was published and it was crystal clear.
Swiss Govt: Downloading Movies and Music Will Stay Legal | TorrentFreak
from the seems-a-bit-strict dept Glyn Moody points us to a frightening analysis of a proposed copyright law in Italy that seems positively ridiculous, in that you could lose access to the internet based on a single accusation (which doesn't even have to come from the copyright holder):
Italy Proposes Law That Will Ban People From The Internet Based On Single Accusation Of Infringement From Anyone | Techdirt
Cable Reveals Extent Of Lapdoggery From Swedish Govt On Copyright Monopoly - Falkvinge on Infopolicy
But all of a sudden, there it was, in black on white. It takes the description so far that the civil servants in the Justice Department, people I have named and criticized, have been on the American Embassy and received instructions. This will become sort of a longish article, as I intend to outline all the hard evidence in detail, but for those who want the executive summary, it is this: The Pirate Party was right on every detail.New Zealands Three Strikes Law was Pushed, Bought and Paid for by the US - Wikileaks
The slow trickle of leaked diplomatic cables from Wikileaks may not be in the headlines as much as it was when it started, but revelations keep pouring out of the website. Recently, new diplomatic cables published on the site revealed just how, not only influential the US was, but just how much control the US had over the passage of the three strikes law in New Zealand.
“Trolling the Stream” (Be Jailed for Streaming?) by UltraDavid « Shoryuken
David “UltraDavid” Graham (for Shoryuken.com) explains why, if bill S.978 passes, you could be jailed for streaming video games, or even uploading them to youtube;
Did the FCC just bless a capped, two-tier Internet?
You like the idea of Internet data caps and overage charges, right? And the prospect of paying your ISP separate fees for "the Internet" and for "managed" IP services like voice, video, VPN, telehealth, and smart grid applications, even when these directly compete with similar Internet-delivered services? Okay, you probably don't—if you're a business or home Internet user.
The United Nations counts internet access as a basic human right in a report that bears implications both to on-going events in the Arab Spring and to the Obama administration's war on whistleblowers . Acting as special rapporteur, a human rights watchdog role appointed by the UN Secretary General, Frank La Rue takes a hard line on the importance of the internet as "an indispensable tool for realizing a range of human rights, combating inequality, and accelerating development and human progress." Presented to the General Assembly on Friday, La Rue's report comes as the capstone of a year's worth of meetings held between La Rue and local human rights organizations around the world, from Cairo to Bangkok.
The U.N. Declares Internet Access a Human Right - Technology - The Atlantic Wire
Senator Al Franken: No joke, Comcast trying to whack Netflix
Sen. Al Franken (D-MN) has had it with the Federal Communications Commission (FCC), who has just created "essentially two Internets" with weak net neutrality rules and who this week signed off on the mega-merger of Comcast and NBC Universal . A common thread unites the two decisions: both highlight the "growing threat of corporate control" over information.
United Nations report: Internet access is a human right - Los Angeles Times
This report explores key trends and challenges to the right of all individuals to seek, receive and impart information and ideas of all kinds through the Internet.In the early 1960s, America's top military leaders reportedly drafted plans to kill innocent people and commit acts of terrorism in U.S. cities to create public support for a war against Cuba.