While CNN is trying confuse & distract the American public with Boston Marathon suspects, #CISPA just passed the House vote.—
Anonymous (@YourAnonNews) April 17, 2013
UPDATE: follow the money!
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Meanwhile, a message from Anonymous
April 17, 2013 — xanthippaInternet Defense League
March 18, 2013 — xanthippaJust received this:
Dear Internet Defense League member,
Last year, right on the heels of our historic victory against SOPA, a piece of really nasty legislation almost passed that would have radically undermined online privacy.
It was called CISPA. And it raced through the US House of Representatives, passing before any of us had a chance to react. We stalled the bill in the Senate, but now CISPA is back, and we don’t want to make the same mistake twice. Before there is *any* movement on the bill, we want to send a strong message to Congress that CISPA shouldn’t pass.
That’s why we’re partnering with the Electronic Frontier Foundation to launch an Internet Defense League action starting tomorrow, Tuesday March 19th.
Can you participate? If so, get the code for your site here: http://members.internetdefenseleague.org
And help get more people signed up by sharing this page with your social network:
Wait, what is CISPA? And why does it matter so much?
CISPA (the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act) would give companies complete freedom to share your personal data with the US government. It doesn’t *require* them to do so, but if the government asked it would be hard to say no, and they’d have no reason to– CISPA would free them from any promises made to customers in public statements or privacy policies.
Your emails, your Facebook account, your bank statements, the websites you visit, your real-time location (courtesy of your cellphone company)– all of it could soon belong to a slew of government agencies and even local police, who could use it against you without a warrant.
Get the code: http://members.internetdefenseleague.org
The IDL action will display only tomorrow. The banner looks like this: http://i.imgur.com/mVG9kVX.png The modal looks like this: http://i.imgur.com/tCOtoEC.png
And they both link to this action page hosted by the EFF: https://action.eff.org/o/9042/p/dia/action/public/?action_KEY=9048
Please spread the word.
Thanks! Sincerely,
Holmes Wilson – Internet Defense League
P.S. If you’d like to learn more about CISPA, the EFF has a great FAQ page here: https://www.eff.org/cybersecurity-bill-faq
Toronto Distric School Board sics cops on blogger BlazingCatFur
March 14, 2013 — xanthippaOh, my, my!
So, for quite a while, Arnie over at BlazingCatFur has been doing some deep investigative reporting into the actions and policies of the TDSB (Toronto District School Board).
Yes, the TDSB has done all that – and Arnie has covered it on his blog, long before it would break in the more traditional media!
His signature is abrasive, not politically-correct language, sarcasm and hyperbole.
In Toronto, that can earn you a visit from the police….
It makes one think of the time the ‘Fresh Prince of Bel-Air’ theme song got a school lock-down – except there, it was a simple misunderstanding, while here, there is a definite stink of trying to silence the messanger.
EU parliamentarians consider emails from citizens to be spam
March 7, 2013 — xanthippaJust received this email – thought I’d share:
Friend,
If you complain about censorship to the European Parliament, they’ll just censor you.
That’s the message that concerned citizens in the EU have been receiving after the European Parliament’s IT department began blocking thousands of emails from citizens opposed to a controversial new policy (one that itself could have a serious impact on Europeans’ freedom of expression online).
And if we complain? I suppose they’ll block those emails too. So instead of emailing, help us make this petition go viral!
Politicians need to know that silencing people’s opinions is not an option. Share this petition on Twitter and Facebook to make sure they get the message:
The censorship was uncovered earlier today by an MEP from the Pirate Party. Here’s his first hand account of what went down:
“Next week the European parliament will be voting on a resolution to ‘ban all forms of pornography in media.’ After this information became known to a wider audience, many citizens have decided to contact members of the European parliament to express their views on this issue … Before noon, some 350 emails had arrived in my office. But around noon, these mails suddenly stopped arriving. When we started investigating why this happened so suddenly, we soon found out: The IT department of the European Parliament is blocking the delivery of the emails on this issue, after some members of the parliament complained about getting emails from citizens.”
You can read his full account here.
Shockingly, this is not the first time this has happened. During the widespread outcry against ACTA, Parliamentary authorities decided to send all emails related to ACTA to MEP’s spam folders.
Thank you for taking action against censorship. If everyone shares this petition and forwards this email to friends, we can generate enough outcry to ensure that the public’s voice is heard.
For Internet freedom,
Holmes, Tiffiniy, Evan, and the whole team.
Center for Rights / Fight for the Future
p.s. Protecting freedom of expression everywhere is what keeps us up at night. After you sign the petition, can you donate to support Center for Rights’s international anti-censorship efforts? Every contribution makes a difference!
An interview with Connie and Mark Fournier
March 4, 2013 — xanthippaThe couple who is leading the legal fight for the freedom of the internet in Canadian courts was recently interviewed on the ‘Just Right’ radio program.
Supreme Court of Canada says it’s OK to censor the truth, then re-publishes hate-speech
March 1, 2013 — xanthippaSad…
H/T: BCF
Telecom giants and repressive regimes are teaming up to use a little-known UN agency to make the Internet more expensive, surveilled, and censored.
November 14, 2012 — xanthippaFrom OpenMedia:
Wow. Telecom giants and repressive regimes are teaming up to use a little-known UN agency to make the Internet more expensive,1 surveilled,2 and censored.3
We need you to take a stand as part of a global community right now.
Internet freedom means connection with loved ones, open innovation, and free expression without interference by Big Telecom or repressive governments. All this is under threat right now, but you can make a difference in just a few seconds.
You are part of what’s shaping up to be the largest movement in history, and the stakes couldn’t be higher.
We’re already working together globally to stop new Internet restrictions from being imposed through trade deals like the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP),4 and we’ve taken massive strides in Canada to push back against Big Telecom’s price-gouging activities.5 This kind of success is unique and inspiring, and it’s something you should be proud of.
Please don’t let them take it away from you – raise your voice now.
Thank you so much for being a part of this,
Steve, on behalf of your OpenMedia Team
P.S. Whether it’s stopping Big Telecom price-gouging and online surveillance in Canada, or opening the secret negotiations of the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP) to citizen comments, we’re bringing the pro-Internet community together to amplify your voice. Our community can only continue to be successful with stable support; you can help by becoming an Ally.
Footnotes
[1] See our blog, ITU proposals threaten Internet freedom and access, or the Center for Democracy and Technology’s Two Page Memo on Telecom Operators Proposal for New Internet Charging Scheme [PDF]
[2] See our blog, UN proposals threaten the Internet as we know it, or the Wired magazine article, The Kremlin’s New Internet Surveillance Plan Goes Live Today
[3] See GigaOM: Is the UN the next big threat to Internet freedom?
[4] See the successes with the StopTheTrap.net campaign so far listed in this recent letter to supporters: It’s time to amplify our voice against the TPP’s Internet trap
[5] See our infographic about the famous StopTheMeter.ca campaign here, or learn more about how we recently pushed for (and won) transparency around Big Telecom’s costs here.
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Could there be more behind the MSM’s refusal to investigate the Obama administration?
October 28, 2012 — xanthippaSure, many of the talking heads and most visible journalists are blatant Obama sycophants. But, why is the refusal to investigate Obama and his administration so pervasive?
Are there really no young and eager investigative journalists who want to make a name for themselves – and to hell with ideology?
While the brainwashing most liberal arts (journalism included) students are subjected to in Colleges and Universities may account for much of it, there may be more to it than just liberalism’s willful blindness:
‘I was on the brunt end of the Obama-generated censorship while employed at CNN as an investigative correspondent.
On at least a weekly basis, and to my constant frustration, my superiors and CNN’s lawyers were quick to remind me that we need to be extra careful because “President Obama has gone after more journalists and whistleblowers than any president in history”. The leash around my neck began to tighten.
Whether I was allowed to embark on future stories or even interview sensitive sources for potential investigations, eventually became an ‘Obama subpoena risk assessment’ and potential court cost calculation, rather than a pure evaluation of the report’s contribution to public good or our journalistic duty to cover the story.
Some of my most crucial investigations were killed before they started because they were too high a risk of an Obama subpoena.
One boss told me quote “we know how the FBI feels about your source, if we have information the FBI will want we become a target”.’
I don’t know just how reliable this blogger is, but her read-worthy post includes many links to reputable sites with material confirming her observations.
Worth thinking about…
