16 July 2012. RIA-Novosti Infographics. Internet Content Regulation in Various Countries

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16 July 2012

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/infographics/20120716/174587209.html

Advertisement

Russian Wikipedia Goes on Strike over Censorship Plans

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On Tuesday, the Russian-language edition of Wikipedia, the world’s largest free on-line encyclopaedia, suspended operations in protest against a bill proposing a unified digital blacklist of all websites containing banned content. The draft legislation, supported by all four party factions in the RF Gosduma, was widely criticized by civil rights activists and internet providers as an attempt to introduce censorship of the Russian segment of the internet (RuNet). In a statement in its Russian-language edition, Wikipedia said, “The Wikipedia community protests against censorship, which threatens free knowledge opened for the mankind. We ask you to support us in the fight against this bill”. The site is expected to stay offline for 24 hours.

The lower house of the Russian parliament, the Gosduma, passed the controversial bill in the first reading on 6 July and will debate the document in the second reading on Tuesday. The idea of the blacklist originated last year from Russia’s League of Internet Security, after the internet watchdog said it had broken up an international ring of 130 alleged paedophiles circulating material via the internet. According to the draft document, submitted to the Gosduma on 7 June, the unified roster of banned websites will be run by a federal agency to be appointed by the government. The agency will have the right to add items to the blacklist, as will the courts, which already have the authority to ban extremist and other types of content that violates Russian legislation.

The supporters of the blacklist believe it’d curb the spread of on-line pornography and extremist propaganda. However, the opponents of the idea insist that the current version of the bill can’t be an effective tool for rooting out the illegal content and stopping its spread on the internet as it won’t prevent “dirty” users from migrating to other domains and IP-addresses. Wikipedia went offline for 24 hours in a similar action on 18 January, protesting US anti-piracy legislation that could lead to censorship. Because of “blackout” protests on thousands of internet sites, the US Congress postponed the vote on the two contentious bills until it resolved the controversies raised about them.

10 July 2012

RIA-Novosti

http://en.rian.ru/society/20120710/174509543.html

19 January 2012. This is Only the First Battle in the War to Take Away Your Freedom

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Read this.

They want to take away your freedom so that the powers-that-be can stuff their boodle bags with more swag. Both political parties are in on this, but the main force behind internet censorship (for that’s what it is) is the Republican Party. After all, they brought you the pleasures of the TSA, the “permanent warfare” state, supply-side economics, and “welfare reform”… this is of a piece with all that. However, the “Democrats” and “progressives” are almost as bad. They believe that we’re ignorant and in need of “direction”… the GOP believes that we’re immoral and in need of “conversion”… not much to choose between the two, wot?

SOPA and PIPA are unashamedly Luddite in their intent. Information transfer no longer hinges on presses, TV studios, or radio towers… it’s in the people’s hands. Today, individuals have access to informational transfer technology that one could only find in the most sophisticated media studios as short as ten years ago. To try to stop this is like mandating people to wear periwigs or to compel them to buy buggy whips (both of which were tried, and failed, by the way).

Truly, the internet does give “power to the people”, and it scares the bejezus out of many in the political, media, and economic apparats. “Information IS power”… the apparats know it, and the shift in “informational access” threatens to destroy their present arrangement. They will NOT go quietly into that dark night. They’ll DENY, DENY, DENY. We’ll have to protect our rights until the corporate media machine chokes to death on its own irrelevance. There’ll always be a “media”… but it’ll be more diffuse and free. That’s the main challenge of our modern time… how to responsibly use this new means of expression… but shall we? Only time will tell us…

Barbara-Marie Drezhlo

Thursday 19 January 2012

Albany NY

18 January 2012. I SUPPORT This… OPPOSE the Republican Rape of the Internet and Your Personal Freedom!

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I just received this in my inbox:

Today, Mozilla is joining the virtual strike against Internet censorship… along with others like Wikipedia and Google… to raise awareness of US Congress legislation that could fundamentally alter the Internet we know and love. This harmful legislation, called the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) in the House and the PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) in the Senate, will be voted on as early as 24 January in the Senate. If you live in the USA, there’s still time to help stop these bills from becoming law. Please visit mozilla.org/sopa for information on the bill, and on ways you can reach out to your senators. What makes this legislation so bad? Here’s how it’d change the Web:

• Communication platforms… from YouTube to Facebook to Amazon… could be shut down if a single rights holder alleges a violation.
• It’d make the Web less stable and less secure.
• Social networking sites, like Twitter or Facebook, could be forced to track and control user behavior, stunting innovation and undermining free expression.
• Your Internet provider could be required to inspect all of your traffic and browsing.

Visit mozilla.org/sopa right now for information… and make your voice heard before it’s too late. Please, join today’s strike, and help protect the Internet.

Sincerely,

Jane & Winston

Editors

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There’s nothing to add, save to remind you to register to vote as soon as possible, make sure that your ID’s up to date (the GOP pigs intend to question all ID’s this November in an attempt to minimise votes for President Obama), and get out and VOTE AGAINST THE GOP this November. Otherwise, you’ll have a dictatorship of the affluent, for the affluent, by the affluent. After all, Mitt Romney only pays 15 percent of his income in taxes, now… if he wins, it’ll be significantly less. Where’s the money to run the government to come from? From YOU, of course… you don’t deserve a living wage, you don’t deserve healthcare, and you don’t deserve a free internet… the Republican Party says so.

STAND UP AND BE COUNTED! I will… what about YOU?

BMD