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Polish MPs wear Guy Fawkes masks to protest ACTA - http://boingboing.net/2012/01/27/polish-mps-wear-guy-fawkes-mas.html
Scott Blomquist // I'm a long time computer geek, full time father and grandfather, I love astronomy, science and technology, NASCAR, golf, I'm a hardcore Yankees and NE Patriots fan, NASA (been my hobby since it was invented, now you know how old I am...yep that old, lol) beer, hanging at the pubs, people watching and the sun. I'm also a recording/live mix sound engineer and I make kickass Chili and Splitpea soup.
Kader Arif, the EU "rapporteur" for ACTA (a copyright treaty negotiated in secret, which contains all the worst elements of SOPA, and which is coming to a vote in the EU) has turned in his report and resigned from his job, delivering a scathing rebuke to the EU negotiators and parliamentarians, and the global corporations who are pushing this through:
I want to denounce in the strongest possible manner the entire process that led to the signature of this agreement: no inclusion of civil society organisations, a lack of transparency from the start of the negotiations, repeated postponing of the signature of the text without an explanation being ever given, exclusion of the EU Parliament's demands that were expressed on several occasions in our assembly.
As rapporteur of this text, I have faced never-before-seen manoeuvres from the right wing of this Parliament to impose a rushed calendar before public opinion could be alerted, thus depriving the Parliament of its right to expression and of the tools at its disposal to convey citizens' legitimate demands.”
Everyone knows the ACTA agreement is problematic, whether it is its impact on civil liberties, the way it makes Internet access providers liable, its consequences on generic drugs manufacturing, or how little protection it gives to our geographical indications.
This agreement might have major consequences on citizens' lives, and still, everything is being done to prevent the European Parliament from having its say in this matter. That is why today, as I release this report for which I was in charge, I want to send a strong signal and alert the public opinion about this unacceptable situation. I will not take part in this masquerade.
European Parliament Official In Charge Of ACTA Quits, And Denounces The 'Masquerade' Behind ACTA (Thanks, David!)
SOPA and PIPA are stalled (or dead) in the halls of the U.S. Congress. Yet, there may be a bigger, perhaps more dangerous threat to Internet freedoms on the way, called the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA. At least that’s how U.S. Rep. Darrell Issa, R. – Calif., sees it, telling an audience, “As a member of Congress, it’s more dangerous than SOPA. It’s not coming to me for a vote. It purports that it does not change existing laws. But once implemented, it creates a whole new enforcement system and will virtually tie the hands of Congress to undo it.”
The stunning declaration came during what was actually an upbeat panel discussion at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland. The convo, part of Mashable’s Documented@Davos program at the WEF, featured U.S. Rep. Issa, Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales, Google SVP and Chief Legal Officer David Drummond, Scribd Cofounder and CEO Trip Adler, and Mashable CEO Pete Cashmore.
Congress’s inability to change ACTA, Issa added, is “what makes ACTA very dangerous. It sounded probably to people like a good idea, but people should ask, why did they work around the WTO [World Trade Organization] and all the existing bodies? I think the answer is: They could work in secret. They could get it done, and then they could tell people you couldn’t change it.”
California Representative Darrell Issa (left) issues dire warning about ACTA at the World Economic Forum. (Photo by Erica Gannett for IRL Productions)
ACTA already has significant support. Signers include Poland, France, Italy, Japan, Singapore, Switzerland, South Korea and, yes, the U.S. (it signed last year). While it’s unclear if ACTA shares the same “draconian” enforcement measures, Issa said, “Many of the things in SOPA are basically implied in ACTA.”
If the movement against ACTA, which is gathering steam in countries such as Poland, takes off, the anti-SOPA protest may provide the blueprint for a wide-scale counteroffensive. Prior to the SOPA and PIPA protests, the panelist noted, the tech community had only informally lobbied Washington on issues like education, visas and other items not necessarily closely related to technology. However, the game changed with SOPA. The relatively young tech community, which, as Google’s Drummond noted, does not have the political organization or clout of, say, an older industry like Hollywood, transitioned from sending letters to Congress to taking direct action, and taking the issue directly to their site visitors and customers. Drummond said the Web community now may have “the prospects of a lasting coalition that will give us a bigger voice in Washington.”
During the panel, Wikipedia’s Wales described how the community-sourced online encyclopedia made the decision to protest SOPA by going dark. He noticed in early December 2011 that “SOPA seemed to be on a fast track. Was really being pushed through and not a lot was being done to stop it.” The possibility of a Wikipedia protest was discussed and decided by the community. “In the end, we held a vote, and 87% were in favor,” recalled Wales. It was a dramatic act soon followed by many other online destinations. As Congressman Issa sees it, this was the right approach.
“I don’t want to understate the importance of money, I think everyone gets that that’s part of the process of politics at all levels. But …a broad coalition is more powerful than any amount of money.” Issa believes his fellow congressmen may now think twice before supporting similar legislation, “The next time the content community comes with a pre-packaged bill that they’ve written, every office is going to say, ‘And how does the tech community feel about it?’ ” Issa told the panel.
Issa has sponsored another piece of online legislation known as the Online Protection & ENforcement of Digital Trade Act or OPEN Act, which has found some support among Facebook and Google, two Internet companies that opposed SOPA and PIPA.
No one is denying the issues of copyright infringement and content piracy remain, but Scribd’s Trip Adler, who said his site “wouldn’t be able to exist if SOPA was in place,” thinks it’s time to take a different approach. “We can innovate our way to a solution that’s good for the users, good for the Internet and good for content owners,” he said. Google’s Drummond agreed, “There are ways to deal with these problems with technology and being smart about it where we don’t actually have to have legislation.”
“This process has not been kept from the public. On October 23, 2007, the partners involved in ACTA at that time publicly announced that they had initiated preliminary discussions on ACTA. Several countries involved in ACTA have conducted public consultations on the key proposed elements of the ACTA.”
One thing is clear: The temperature is finally rising for ACTA, and at least one Congressman now publicly sees it as a greater threat than SOPA. You can see the entire panel in the exclusive video above.
What do you think? Is ACTA bigger, badder and more worrisome than SOPA and PIPA, or is Issa simply trying to steer votes to his own legislation? Share in the comments.
More About: ACTA, Facebook, Google, PIPA, SOPA, trending, wikipedia
Representatives of 21 of the EU’s member states, including the UK, have signed off on the controversial Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement (ACTA) – the European version of the US SOPA and PIPA rolled into one and cranked up to 11.…
NEW YORK—So here is a thing that happened: Newt Gingrich said four preposterous things yesterday in the span of a single sentence. Let’s parse it! “By the end of my second term, we will have the first permanent base on the moon and it will be American.” Ok, first: a moon base! Which, right, is just patently ridiculous. But moving on: it will be American! Because of course it would be, or, well, at least when you’re the sort of person who will not rest until the entirety of the Middle East is remade in the American image. Thirdly: Newt suggested he will actually get elected president. (LOL, etc.) And fourthly! Newt suggested he will actually get elected president TWICE. (LOL squared, etc.)
Now why the moon, you might (fairly) ask? Well: so as to generate “a robust science, tourism and manufacturing industry” established “precisely on the model of the airlines in the 1930s.” Yes, he really said that: there will be airports. To space. For vacations.
But you may wish to contain your laughter here, lest you be scolded by the Times’ Nick Confessore, who induced something of a *head explodes* moment on our part last night when he tweeted: “So, liberals/Dems think expanded space exploration is inherently nutty and stupid? Really? The party of Kennedy and Johnson?” Yes, Nick: really. Yes, the party of Kennedy and Johnson thinks this is nutty and stupid. And not just because it’s a deeply cynical electoral ploy to go around making promises there’s no conceivable way you can keep to residents of Florida’s “Space Coast” who now suffer a 15% unemployment rate at the hand of NASA budget cuts. And certainly not because the thought of the great beyond has lost any of its magic and wonder. But because right here, right now—at a time of widespread economic peril, when millions of Americans are suffering the fallout of the Republican party’s decades-long war on the New Deal (and millions more stand to suffer at the hand of Republican-backed austerity measures that will not only hurt ordinary Americans but render the prospect of heightened space exploration completely moot in the first place)—the final frontier we’re most concerned with is the one right here at home, one which—much like the moon!—we’ve already glimpsed once before in our history, but one which has been steadily dismantled over the course of the last three decades and must, as a first order of business, be built once again. So yes, Nick, the party of Kennedy and Johnson is laughing at this, because to turn one’s gaze skyward, right now, at the expense of so many grave issues here at home, yes: that is a gesture worthy of ridicule.
Anyway, back here on planet Earth, there were other things that happened in the world yesterday. First and foremost: Gabby Giffords officially resigned from Congress—and we bawled. If you haven’t watched the video yet, be sure to go get your cry on. And you won’t be alone! Because John Boehner also cries (we advise paying special attention to the 8:45 mark in the video for a good look at how freakish that man’s face looks when he cries real tears).
But then as soon as Boehner was done crying he did something kind of weird? He launched into a bromide about house decorum and… the House floor dress code? “The chair would remind all members to be in proper business attire when you come to the floor of the House,” said Boehner. Run of the mill parliamentary business, perhaps, but it just struck us as very very unfortunately timed, considering that it was literally seconds earlier that he had been handed a letter of resignation by a woman who had actually just broken the very same House dress code he was harping on here by wearing running sneakers on the floor because she can barely walk anymore because, you know, she recently got shot in the head.
Anyway, Mitt Romney is busy spinning his 13% tax rate into something a bit more substantial—like, say, fifty percent? Per Mitt: “One of the reasons why we have a lower tax rate on capital gains is because capital gains are also being taxed at the corporate level. So as businesses earn profits, that’s taxed at 35 percent, then as they distribute those profits as dividends, that’s taxed at 15 percent more. So, all total, the tax rate is really closer to 45 or 50 percent.” HEH, RIGHT. We’re having flashbacks to the “no double taxation on dividends!!!” days. You know who else pays double taxes? Every single other American who is subject to a sales tax. So until you show a little sympathy for everyone else who’s being “double-taxed,” you know, kindly spare us the sob story.
So here is an important thing to remember: Newt Gingrich’s marital infidelities cannot be compared to Bill Clinton’s. Why? “I didn’t do the same thing. I have never lied under oath. I have never committed perjury. I have never been involved in a felony. He was.” Heh. Ok!
Oh yes, right, we’d be remiss to finish this post without repeating a few words that we’ve now said eighteen times before over the last few months: there’s a Republican debate tonight!
iPad-controlled mixers were a big part of the NAMM show this year, and Mackie has put together one of the more innovative solutions we've heard of. The Mackie DL1608 is a digital mixer with full iPad control, but the real headlining feature is that this mixer can be controlled wirelessly. Once everything's hooked up to the DL1608, users can adjust the mix through the iPad while wandering the room, letting engineers easily tweak the sound from places besides the soundboard. The mixer even supports up to 10 iPads simultaneously, though we imagine it might get a little difficult competing with nine other soundmen over a mix.
Other benefits the iPad brings to the table include the ability to record the live mix directly to the iPad's storage...
Michael Geist sez,
Recent revelations that the content industries are demanding that Canada implement SOPA-style provisions into its copyright law have raised concerns the law could be used to target legitimate sites. Industry lawyers say there is no reason for worry, yet an analysis of the proposed law set against the claims made by Viacom against Youtube show that there is a very real possibility that new law could be used to target the Internet's most popular video site.
That would create a huge chill in the investment and technology community in Canada. Online video sites, cloud computing sites, and other online services may look at the Bill C-11 and fear that even a lawsuit could create massive costs, scare away investors, and stifle new innovation. Indeed, a recent study by Booz & Company found this to be a very real problem, with a large majority of the angel investors and venture capitalists saying they will not put their money in digital content intermediaries if governments pass tough new rules allowing websites to be sued or fined for infringing digital content posted by users. The U.S. has dropped for SOPA, but now incredibly Canada may consider the very provisions that causes investors to become skittish.
Would a SOPA Version of the Canadian Copyright Bill Target Youtube?
