04.28.12

Promise of the American Dream is Broken

"...Millions of Americans are just giving up on the possibility of ever rejoining the workforce. These frustrations reflect a reality that is unraveling the American identity. One of the most fundamental dictates in achieving the "American Dream" has always been a good job that pays wages decent enough to care for our families, buy a car and a home, and live reasonably comfortable lives."

By Tavis Smiley and Cornel West, Special to CNN

New Data Reveals Artists Aren’t Gettin’ Paid

"...Everybody keeps shifting the responsibility of sustaining artists (the real lifeblood of the arts) to some other group; meanwhile, the money keeps finding its way into the coffers of the few who hold the most power and the purse strings.

"As the NEA said in its own 2008 report, Artists in the Workforce: “The time has come to insist on an obvious but overlooked fact—artists are workers.”  By Alexis Clements @ hyperalleric

Why Are (Most) Artists (So Fucking) Poor?

"On Friday evening W.A.G.E. presented the results of its 2010 survey of payments received by artists who exhibited with nonprofit art institutions in New York City between 2005 and 2010. The survey found that 58% of artists who responded received “no form of payment.”  The audience, including Artists Space director Stefan Kalmár, asked questions critical of the survey methodology, but did not refute the group’s findings. W.A.G.E. has partnered with Artists Spaceto explore the development of a self-regulatory model, mandating the implementation of a fee schedule within the institution. Presenter A.K. Burns explained one of the rationales for artists fees, “nonprofits get money from different sources for public education, and the artist is the educator. We are wondering why the artist isn’t being paid?”  That artists should be remunerated for their cultural value in capital value is one of W.A.G.E.’s positions from its statement and one that remains controversial."  by William Powhide @ hyperallergic

White House: Obama Would Veto GOP Student Loan Plan

"...Obama favors extending the current lower interest rates on student loans but would seek a different way to pay the $6 billion cost.

"A proposal by Senate Democrats would pay for the measure by ending some tax loopholes for corporations, a move opposed by Republicans. The House plan would instead take the money from the health care fund, which is part of the 2010 Affordable Care Act detested by Republicans...." 

By Deirdre Walsh, Brianna Keilar and Tom Cohen @ CNN

An Artist Goes Undercover at a JC Penney Portrait Studio

"Studio portraits don’t document an event; the making of the photograph is the event. In order to create a series titled Free Sitting, artist Nora Herting got a job as a trade photographer at a portrait studio in a JC Penney department store in Ohio....

"The ubiquitous photos generated from portrait studios reveal a great deal about how we choose to portray our relationships and ourselves. This was part of Herting’s investigation when she began the project. The portrait serves a testament to the subjects’ prosperity and personal relations, and yet, despite the time and care people take when having their pictures taken at commercial studios, the resulting photographs are rarely considered aesthetic objects. They are documentation. Herting’s work questions what, exactly, we are documenting in this benign, constructed way."  By Sarah Walko @ hyperallergic

How CISPA Would Affect You: FAQ

"CISPA may have cleared the U.S. House of Representatives, but the fight isn't over. It's shifted to the U.S. Senate. Here's CNET's FAQ on what you need to know about this particularly controversial Internet bill."  By Declan McCullagh @ CNET

How To Get Food on Every Table

"There are extremely cost-effective ways to respond to the problem of hunger and malnutrition. But which ones should be the top priority for policymakers and philanthropists? How could limited money best be spent to combat global challenges? Have your say by voting below. Tomorrow, we look at the ways we can respond to chronic disease—and how a rethinking of development aid spending may be required."  By Bjørn Lomborg @ Slate

Where Did All the Accomplished People Go?

"...My head is filled with pathetically stupid thoughts about inconsequential people, and so, quite frankly, is yours. We are all in the same boat. And why on earth do we privilege the most superficial idiocies of popular culture over more substantial fare? The answer is simple: We have lost our fascination with accomplishment."  By Simon Doonan @ Slate

04.24.12

Obama Targets Technology In Human Rights Abuses

"Washington (CNN) -- President Barack Obama announced Monday that he has signed an executive order allowing new sanctions against companies that enable Syria and Iran to use technology such as cell phone monitoring to carry out human rights abuses.

"The order is part of a broader strategy intended to strengthen the administration's ability to prevent atrocities, including creation of an Atrocities Prevention Board, Obama said in somber remarks at the U.S. Holocaust Memorial Museum to mark Holocaust Remembrance Day.

" "These technologies should be in place to empower citizens, not to repress them," Obama said of the measure, which targets the Syrian and Iranian governments, as well as companies that provide them with high-tech equipment to use against their own people."

Mexican Immigration Is Actually Moving Backwards

"A new study says that for the first time since the Great Depression, there may be fewer Mexican immigrants coming into the United States than there are moving from the United States back to Mexico. According to the Pew Research Center, the net migration between the U.S. and Mexico over the last five years was essentially zero, and the downward trend suggests that flow of both legal and illegal immigrants may have actually reversed back toward Mexico.

"There are many possible reasons to explain the decline, but the most obvious one would seem to be the struggling U.S. economy, which has cost millions of available jobs, particularly in construction and in the South, where recent immigrants generally thrive. There have also been big increases in enforcement, deportations, and border security, although the report also says that arrests of illegal immigrants trying to cross the border has actually plummeted by nearly 75%. Whether that's because fewer people want to come here or they just don't think it's worth the risk is hard to pin down, but the number of folks willing to take the chance is definitely declining.

"Given the continued hysteria over illegal immigrants and how demographic shifts might change the country in the future, many Americans might be shocked to learn that the shift is actually heading in the other direction. There have been several state laws just within the last couple of years that were passed on the premise that illegal immigration was out of control, even as the population of Mexican immigrants is apparently lower than it has been in decades. (Some might argue that the news laws are responsible for that, but the trend was clearly in place even before they were passed.) The Supreme Court will actually hear arguments this week about the harsh Arizona law that has been at the center of the debate for the last couple years, but this new evidence may put the crackdown in a new light, since the problem it was intended to resolve may not actually exist."  from Dashiell Bennett @ The Atlantic Wire

Stress Rises on Social Security

"Social Security and Medicare, the government-run health plan for senior citizens, are together the largest U.S. public benefit programs and account for one-third of the federal budget. The programs' costs are projected to grow rapidly because of the aging U.S. population and, in Medicare's case, the rising cost of health care....

"Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner said the Obama administration would seek to work with Congress to come up with a long-term solution to repair the solvency of the disability trust fund but didn't offer specifics. "The best thing to do is a long-term solution," he said....

"Social Security's worsening outlook comes from a combination of higher cost-of-living adjustments pushing benefits up and lagging wage growth holding down tax revenue.

"In recent years, the Social Security disability rolls have soared, as many Americans with mental and physical health problems sought to enter the program and others with less severe issues applied because of a scarcity of work."  from Damian Paletta @ The WSJ

Call for Growth to Counter German Push for Austerity

BERLIN — "With political allies weakened or ousted, Chancellor Angela Merkel’s seat at the head of the European table has become much less comfortable, as a reckoning with Germany’s insistence on lock-step austerity appears to have begun.


" “The formula is not working, and everyone is now talking about whether austerity is the only solution,” said Jordi Vaquer i Fanés, a political scientist and director of the Barcelona Center for International Affairs in Spain....


"From trading floors to polling stations to the streets of cities across Europe, the message appears increasingly to be that countries cannot cut their way to fiscal health. They need growth, too. In recent months, powerful voices have joined the chorus, including those of the managing director of the International Monetary Fund, Christine Lagarde, and Italy’s prime minister, Mario Monti. Treasury Secretary Timothy F. Geithner has called repeatedly for Europe to defer budget cutting in favor of some form of stimulus spending.

Pressured by the presidential campaign, even Mr. Sarkozy, once Ms. Merkel’s most prominent ally, has begun to talk of the need for growth."  from Nicholas Kulish @ NYT: http://www.nytimes.com/2012/04/24/world/europe/call-for-growth-puts-pressure-on-german-led-austerity.html

Review: 'History of Space Photography'

"The gallery at Art Center College of Design in Pasadena is also on hand — albeit it coincidentally — to mark the passage of government near-exclusivity in space exploration. A large exhibition chronicles "The History of Space Photography" through May 6....

"Guest curator Jay Belloli worked with several consultants from the nearby Jet Propulsion Lab. (JPL, founded at Caltech and affiliated with NASA, has 23 spacecraft and 10 instruments conducting active missions, according to its website.) Belloli and his team selected 150 noteworthy images, most from the last 50 years of space exploration, and added three video projections that feature various celestial animations....

"The show includes classics, such as Edward Hubble's 1923 telescopic photograph verifying the existence of galaxies beyond our own Milky Way. Astronaut John Glenn's 1962 color photograph taken from the window of his orbital spacecraft is a kind of drive-by tourist snapshot on steroids (it shows the Georgia coastline). "The History of Space Photography" offers total visual fictions too, since images made from cameras performing digital scans gathered over time (sometimes many minutes) are composites; color is also always malleable and print size is arbitrary...."  from Christopher Knight, Los Angeles Times Art Critic

View Slide Show

Bright purple crab discovered in Philippines

Four new species of crab that sport some wild colors have been discovered near the Philippine island of Palawan. 

From Our Amazing Planet: link: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/47158113/ns/technology_and_science-science/#.T5bQh6tYvdU

04.23.12

U.S. Government Can Seize Any Domain

"According to a representative for Immigration and Customs Enforcement, the US can seize the domains because the root infrastructure of those top-level domains is controlled by the US-based Verisign. The government intends to do it from the root on its home turf because it doesn't trust the authorities in foreign countries to comply with its desire"

blog maverick: Some Olympic Thoughts

"The Olympics are a business, plain and simple. A tax-free juggernaut called the International Olympic Committee that generates revenues, on average, of over $1.4 billion a year. In fact, the IOC’s 2010 tax return shows a $1.4 billion net balance — as in cash in the bank.

And if Wade, and other Olympians don’t ask for and get a share, then who does?"

Say What??? Governor of Illinois Calls This Week's Events "Epic"

Started with a paid by the government of Illinois visit from Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker. According to the article, "Walker, who faces a recall election this summer, earned renown and notoriety by spearheading the end of collective bargaining for Wisconsin’s public-sector unions last year. Walker’s visit was sponsored by the Illinois Chamber of Commerce and National Federation of Independent Business. His appearance drew throngs of pro-union protesters, while Quinn used the opportunity to ask for campaign donations via email."  

Another 'epic' event was the return of indicted state Rep. Derrick Smith's return to the Illinois House today for the first time since his arrest on a federal bribery charge.

The State of Illinois is also working at scrapping a scholarship program:

"Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno on Wednesday questioned why three proposals to eliminate the state’s legislative scholarship program are bottled up in a subcommittee — despite a majority of senators being co-sponsors on the bill."

Governor Quinn’s is also proposing to generate $2.7 billion through savings and reductions to prevent the collapse of the state’s Medicaid program, on which 2.7 million Illinoisans rely. His suggestions include:

Cutting 58 Medicaid line items totaling $1.35 billion

Reducing rates to Medicaid providers totaling $675 million

Increasing the state’s cigarette tax by $1 per pack, to $1.98, raising $337.5 million, plus a federal match of the revenue from the cigarette tax increase — $337.5 million

Ending the Illinois Cares Rx prescription program for 180,000 people, eliminating adult dental care for 172,000 patients and a moratorium on new admissions to intermediate care nursing facilities are among the 58 items Quinn targeted for cuts and reductions.

I find it interesting that "his plan, the product of a Medicaid working group he assembled earlier this year, does not address the $1.9 billion in overdue Medicaid bills the state is pushing off until next year."

He also is making changes to retirement plans which according to public worker's union officials say violate the Illinois Constitution.

I'm not a political expert, but it sounds as if he is laying the foundation for some more 'epic' weeks in Illinois government.

"Street Art" Revival Planned for Manchester

Community activists who brought public artistic expression to areas as diverse as a skateboard park, the back alleys of urban neighborhoods and a passageway near City Hall plan to renew their call for young people to become involved in “street art'' projects this spring.

The controlled painting on public buildings began a few years ago as a way to both channel youthful expression and behavior into a positive format and to create a type of street art distinguished from the malicious defacing of property by vandals.

This jazz mural is located on Litchfield Lane in Manchester.

THOMASROY/UNIONLEADER

Anacostia School Included in Pilot Arts Program

"The President’s Committee on the Arts and Humanities, working with the Education Department, will announce a plan Monday to infuse art, music, dance, theater and other forms of creative expression into the schools over a two-year period.

"Officials involved in the project want to prove a theory: Robust art, music, dance and theater can set failing schools on a path to academic success....

"New research indicates that students from low-income families who attend arts-rich schools are three times more likely to earn a college degree, and those who earn arts credits in high school are five times more likely to graduate than those who took few or no arts classes."

Despite opposition, paddling students allowed in 19 states

"That use of corporal punishment is rooted in a strong Bible Belt belief in the proverbial "spare the rod and spoil the child," says George Holden, a Southern Methodist University psychology professor. It's reinforced by Southern sensibilities that favor obedience and respect for authority, he says. "Most people were spanked when they were kids, and they think that's the proper way to discipline," says Holden, chairman of the 2011 Global Summit on Ending Corporal Punishment and Promoting Positive Discipline. "They make the erroneous correlation that spanking equals good discipline and if a child isn't behaving, he must not have been spanked enough — that's fallacious." "

Study Questions Value of Early Exposure to Algebra

"Separate studies of urban middle schoolers in California and in the Charlotte-Mecklenburg, N.C., schools suggest that placing struggling math students in algebra class does not improve their test performance on state math tests, and significantly hurts their grade point averages and the likelihood of their taking and passing higher math courses in high school."

04.04.12

iBrain: A Mind Reading Machine

The iBrain is part of a new generation of portable neural devices and algorithms intended to monitor and diagnose conditions like sleep apnea, depression and autism.


The iBrain is part of a new generation of portable neural devices and algorithms intended to monitor and diagnose conditions like sleep apnea, depression and autism. Invented by a team led by Philip Low, a 32-year-old neuroscientist who is chief executive of NeuroVigil, a company based in San Diego, the iBrain is gaining attention as a possible alternative to expensive sleep labs that use rubber and plastic caps riddled with dozens of electrodes and usually require a patient to stay overnight.

“The iBrain can collect data in real time in a person’s own bed, or when they’re watching TV, or doing just about anything,” Dr. Low said.

Why the Coming Patent Crisis is Inevitable



 "At some point in the future, a company is going to skip the settlement and use the courts to shut down a popular and universal feature on the Web's top domains, simply because it has a patent that says it came up with the notion first. It will be a shock that reverberates all the way to the U.S. government and the World Trade Organization.

I suspect a patent crisis is both necessary and inevitable. The reason is simple: there isn't enough political will or pressure to institute massive patent reform without a crisis to rally around."




GSA chief gone: fallout continues in wake of lavish expense

"Tangherlini said in a letter of introduction to GSA employees that the agency was taking some immediate action "to ensure that our customers maintain their faith in our services." Those measure include a review of planned conferences and meetings that involve travel or substantial expenditures of public funds and the cancellation of a number of conferences that only or primarily involved staff, he said in the letter."

Groupon Sued by Shareholder over Financial Revisions

" "Groupon's internal controls were so poor and inadequate that Groupon's reported results were not reliable," shareholder Fan Zhang alleged, according to Bloomberg review of the complaint filed in federal court in Chicago....The lawsuit comes a day after reports that Groupon's revision of its first set of financial results as a public company had attracted the attention of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission, although the commission has reportedly not yet elected to launch a formal investigation of the company."

Big Society Fund Launches with £600m to Invest

"Big Society Capital has £600m, of which the majority comes from unused cash in bank accounts that had been dormant for more than 15 years.  The fund will back social enterprises that prove they can repay an investment through the income they generate.  "This is about supplying capital to help society expand," said Prime Minister David Cameron."

Facebook Counters Yahoo's Legal Action with a Lawsuit

"In its lawsuit, Yahoo claimed that Mark Zuckerberg's company's "entire social network model" was based on its technology, and infringed its rights to innovations involved in messaging, privacy controls, advertising, customisation and social networking.

Facebook is preparing for initial public offering on a stock market that could value Facebook at $100bn (£64bn).  Yahoo, which has struggled in recent years against competition from both Facebook and Google, has a market value of $18.3bn.  On Wall Street, Yahoo shares fell 28 cents on Tuesday to close at $15.18."

FSA Fines JP Morgan Banker Ian Hannam for Market Abuse

"One of the City's top bankers, Ian Hannam, has been fined £450,000 by the Financial Services Authority (FSA) for providing inside information to a prospective client.  Mr Hannam has resigned as chairman of Capital Markets at JP Morgan Cazenove, and is appealing against the decision.  A former captain in the territorial SAS, he said the FSA's conclusion was wrong and he had acted with integrity.

The FSA said that while Mr Hannam had not deliberately set out to commit market abuse, his failings were serious because of his experience and senior position at JP Morgan.  It claims he disclosed inside information in two emails sent to a prospective client towards the end of 2008."

Europe Opens Patent Investigations Into Motorola Mobility

"BRUSSELS — The European Union’s competition office on Tuesday opened two antitrust cases against Motorola Mobility for possibly abusing its patents following complaints by two rivals, Microsoft and Apple.

The cases are the latest stage in what has become a full-blown battle over the ownership of essential technologies that help power mobile and gaming devices, a fight that has engulfed Google and virtually all the other major players in the industry."

The Met, the ‘Ring’ and the Rage Against the Machine

"Peter Gelb has both raised expectations and invited criticism by calling Robert Lepage’s $16 million production of Wagner’s “Ring” cycle for the Metropolitan Opera revolutionary. He used the word again in a recent interview at his office, as he spoke of the “trials and tribulations” of executing Mr. Lepage’s “superhuman,” technically daunting concept in a repertory theater “against amazing odds.”

"...But Mr. Gelb, the Met’s general manager since 2006, has been living it, attending every stage rehearsal and “complaining bitterly,” he said, about the persistent clankiness of the so-called machine, the 45-ton set of movable planks that dominate the production.He could be right....But for many people, making the set a character is the problem. The machine imposes itself and distracts us from Wagner’s music drama."

Bryn Terfel and Deborah Voigt in the Metropolitan Opera’s 2011 production of “Die Walküre,” on the machine, the 45-ton set of movable planks.



So, is this statistical debate over whether the poverty line is too high or too low missing the real issue?

What Does India’s Poverty Line Actually Measure?

Jean Drèze, an economist and former member of the National Advisory Council, certainly thinks so. “What is really shocking is not that the official poverty line is abysmally low, but that even with that abysmal benchmark, so many people are below it,” he told us. “The belated discovery that it is impossible to have a dignified life on the official poverty line draws our attention to the appalling living conditions of the Indian poor.” Taking a position diametrically opposed to Mr. Bhalla and Mr. Panagariya, Mr. Drèze argues, “The message about the terrifying nature of ‘hidden poverty’ in India has been somewhat lost in the din of the recent debate.”

NEW ORLEANS — Rarely has a national title seemed to yield so little to celebrate. The starting five for the champion Kentucky Wildcats — a mix of freshmen and sophomores — are expected to enter the N.B.A. draft, and never again play for the college they ever so briefly attended....

"Mark Emmert, the president of the National Collegiate Athletic Association, had already expressed regret that the N.B.A.’s so-called “one-and-done” rule allows universities to recruit athletes who show little interest in getting an education.

Arizona Law to Censor the Internet

"...The rule is actually enforced by the N.B.A., which has no plans to change it. It was put in place in 2005 as part of the league’s collective bargaining agreement, after teams spent years investing in athletic but unproven teenagers who were jumping straight to the N.B.A. from high school. Some, like Kobe Bryant and Kevin Garnett, turned into stars. Others flopped.

"Technically, the rule does not force talented players like Kentucky’s Anthony Davis to go to college, but it states that they must be one year removed from their graduating high school class to be eligible for the N.B.A. draft. Academics have criticized the rule and the N.C.A.A. has complained, but neither had the power to make any changes. Even a former Kentucky president, Lee T. Todd Jr., has expressed uneasiness with the situation, one which can give players little incentive to attend class, let alone excel academically, after a certain point in the season."

"First Amendment rights group Media Coalition, which represents the Motion Picture Association of America, the Recording Industry Association of America, the Association of American Publishers and other related groups, says the bill is not only a violation of the First Amendment, but is so far-ranging as to be preposterous.


In a letter to the governor, the coalition said while government can criminalize speech "that rises to the level of harassment, and many states have laws that do so," Arizona's legislation:


... takes a law meant to address irritating phone calls and applies it to communication on web sites, blogs, listserves and other Internet communication. H.B. 2549 is not limited to a one to one conversation between two specific people. The communication does not need to be repetitive or even unwanted. There is no requirement that the recipient or subject of the speech actually feel offended, annoyed or scared. Nor does the legislation make clear that the communication must be intended to offend or annoy the reader, the subject or even any specific person."

Failing to provide Facebook password gets teacher's aide fired

“(Superintendent Colby) asked me three times if he could view my Facebook and I repeatedly said I was not OK with that,” Hester told WSBT.


In a letter to Hester from the Lewis Cass ISD Special Education Director, he wrote “…in the absence of you voluntarily granting Lewis Cass ISD administration access to you[r] Facebook page, we will assume the worst and act accordingly.


Hester is currently on unpaid leave, collecting workman's compensation while legally battling the school district. "I stand by it," Hester told WSTB News. "I did nothing wrong. And I would not, still to this day, let them in my Facebook.  And I don’t think it’s OK for an employer to ask you.”

Getting Personal About Aung San Suu Kyi

Here's an Example of Serious Policy Making Procedures

The new politics of Silicon Valley: Revenge of the nerds | Politics and Law - CNET News

"... most technology debates in Washington are dangerously lacking in engineering expertise regardless of the issue being discussed. At the House Judiciary Committee's sole hearing on SOPA, only one witness opposed to the bill was allowed to testify--a lawyer for Google. Yet Congressmen repeatedly prefaced their comments by admitting they didn't understand even the basics of the domain name system, Internet addressing, search engines, social networks, ad networks or online payment processing--all of which would be significantly affected by the legislation. (The committee could start with this letter (PDF) from leading Internet engineers on the dangers of SOPA to cybersecurity and the domain name system.) Critics have urged Chairman Smith to allow testimony from Internet engineers and others who understand how the Internet economy actually works, a plea repeated many times during last month's markup sessions. As it became clearer that committee members didn't understand key technical concepts, congress members on both sides of the issue acknowledged they needed to hear from engineers or, as they were frequently called at the hearing, "the nerds."

Can Your Boss Benefit from Your Social Media Accounts?

"The question is: Can a company cash in on, and claim ownership of, an employee’s social media account, and if so, what does that mean for workers who are increasingly posting to Twitter, Facebook and Google Plus during work hours?  A lawsuit filed in July could provide some answers."......

"PhoneDog Media declined to comment for this article except for this statement: “The costs and resources invested by PhoneDog Media into growing its followers, fans and general brand awareness through social media are substantial and are considered property of PhoneDog Media L.L.C. We intend to aggressively protect our customer lists and confidential information, intellectual property, trademark and brands.

"Mr. Kravitz said the lawsuit, filed in the United States District Court in the Northern District of California, was in retaliation for his claim to 15 percent of the site’s gross advertising revenue because of his position as a vested partner, as well as back pay related to his position as a video reviewer and blogger for the site."

As a customer, I would take issue with the statement in red. As a customer, my personal information belongs to ME, and only me. If I choose to do business with a competitor, that's my business. YOUR business is to do business well enough that I don't do that. 

My concern with this case is the blurring of the lines between personal life and professional.  There is a growing trend that companies want their employees to think like they are always on the job, going so far as to monitor what their employees are doing off the clock. Which feels too much like slavery to my thinking: what I do when I'm not on your clock is not a reflection of your corporation. I remember the days when being a good employee meant doing your job well at work.  Now companies want to extend their corporate image to include what employees do with their spare time.

There needs to be a solid boundary between personal and professional.

Read the original article @ The New York Times

SOPA Watch

Here’s a news bit that I am watching with interest, and suggest you do the same: the passing of  SOPA.  

Here is a break down of the bill from Wikipedia:

"The Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), also known as H.R. 3261, is a billthat was introduced in the United States House of Representatives on October 26, 2011, by Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) and a bipartisan group of 12 initial co-sponsors. The bill expands the ability of U.S. law enforcement and copyright holders to fight online trafficking in copyrightedintellectual property and counterfeit goods.^[2] Now before the House Judiciary Committee, it builds on the similar PRO-IP Act of 2008 and the corresponding Senate bill, the Protect IP Act.^[3]

The bill would allow the U.S. Department of Justice, as well as copyright holders, to seek court orders against websites accused of enabling or facilitating copyright infringement. Depending on who requests the court orders, the actions could include barring online advertising networks and payment facilitators such as PayPal from doing business with the allegedly infringing website, barring search engines from linking to such sites, and requiring Internet service providers to block access to such sites. The bill would make unauthorized streaming of copyrighted content a felony. The bill also gives immunity to Internet services that voluntarily take action against websites dedicated to infringement, while making liable for damages any copyright holder who knowingly misrepresents that a website is dedicated to infringement.^[4]

Proponents of the bill say it protects the intellectual property market and corresponding industry, jobs and revenue, and is necessary to bolster enforcement of copyright laws especially against foreign websites.^[5]Opponents say that it infringes on First Amendment rights, is Internet censorship,^[6] will cripple the Internet,^[7] and will threaten whistle-blowing and other free speech.^[8]"

CNET has complied a FAQ article about SOPA, from which this was taken:

"How would SOPA work? 

It allows the U.S. attorney general to seek a court order against the targeted offshore Web site that would, in turn, be served on Internet providers in an effort to make the target virtually disappear. It's kind of an Internet death penalty.

 A service provider shall take technically feasible and reasonable measures designed to prevent access by its subscribers located within the United States to the foreign infringing site (or portion thereof) that is subject to the order...Such actions shall be taken as expeditiously as possible, but in any case within five days after being served with a copy of the order, or within such time as the court may order."

Here is the first problem I see with this act: they are presenting this as protection of intellectual property, etc. However, this overlooks that reality that linking to other sites is a vital part of doing business online, no matter what your business is.  As long as proper credit is given,  being able to share links is NOT considered a violation of any one’s rights.   It is standard Internet protocol to include a link to the original posting in your post, where ever it occurs.  Example: this link goes to the original article, as well as acknowledging the post author:  Anonymous will react if SOPA is passed:  Will tag the internet with protest messages  By Dave Neal  Thu Dec 22 2011, 10:21  If SOPA passes, we as individuals are limited to sharing information in so many ways.  That frightens me.

The second problem, and most urgent in my thinking, is that both governments and big business is VERY threatened by the ability of people to organize and protest via the Internet.  Bank of America having to back down from charging users to use debit cards is one recent example.  

I recently read an interesting article about a panel designed to inform government workers about the group Anonymous 

(Mr. Washington Goes to Anonymous; presented by The Alantic). A recent panel held at The Brookings Institution, one of DC's oldest think tanks, was a response to hacktivism.  According to the panel literature, 

"Radical online activism is a new public-policy challenge, with groups such as Anonymous being described as everything from terrorist organizations to freedom fighters "

Whether you agree or disagree with Anonymous, the ability to organize on line is considered "a new public-policy challenge", i.e., THREAT.  If the powers that be are threatened by them, it also follows that they are also threatened by the ability of people to communicate and organize in large numbers.  I don’t know how you feel about that, but that kind of thinking by people in charge sure scares me. SOPA seems to be a way for government to get a tighter control on freedom of expression and the ability to act.

Some informative links about SOPA:
FAQ: How SOPA Would Affect You
      On-line Piracy Laws Must Preserve Web Freedoms


FIGHT THE BLACKLIST! A Toolkit for Anti-SOPA Activism

         What's Wrong with SOPA: a one page printable

SOPA & Preservation of Web Freedoms

""On Thursday the House of Representatives is expected to vote on the Stop Online Piracy Act...The problem is that the bills' legal and technical solutions are very similar to mechanisms that authoritarian regimes use to censor and spy on their citizens...Our organization, Global Voices Online, is an international network for citizen media. We support the protection of intellectual property; many members of our community earn all or part of their living by creating copyrighted work. We worry, though, that the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act will inflict broad unintended damage on digital activists living under repressive regimes as well as restrict speech freedoms at home." "

Online piracy laws must preserve Web freedom - CNN.com

Stand Up and Fight: A Week of Action Against Censorship | Electronic Frontier Foundation

"This legislation, if passed, will wreak havoc on our Internet community, jeopardizing the innovative and creative ecosystem that has created hundreds of thousands of jobs, helped countless people access information, and spurred a new generation of artists and creators. But big media groups are willing to sacrifice all of that in a ham-fisted attempt to control how you consume online content. And in the process, they'll undoing long-standing legal protections for websites and endangering the basic infrastructure of the Net. Join us in standing up. Show Congress we’re willing to fight for an uncensored web, & that lobbyists will never drown out the voices of the Internet community. "

A Week of Action Against Censorship

We’ll be adding to this list daily. Check back to see what you can do to join the fight!

Day One:

Toolkit for Anti-SOPA Activism

Action Alert! Call Congress Now

What's Wrong with SOPA (One-page PDF handout)

Stand Up and Fight: A Week of Action Against Censorship | Electronic Frontier Foundation

Anonymous: Message to the American People

Uploaded by anonymous04210 on Dec 3, 2011

Dear brothers and sisters. 

Now is the time to open your eyes! 

In a stunning move that has civil libertarians stuttering with disbelief, the U.S. Senate has just passed a bill that effectively ends the Bill of Rights in America.

The National Defense Authorization Act is being called the most traitorous act ever witnessed in the Senate, and the language of the bill is cleverly designed to make you think it doesn't apply to Americans, but toward the end of the bill, it essentially says it can apply to Americans "if we want it to.

Bill Summary & Status, 112th Congress (2011 -- 2012) | S.1867 | Latest Title: National Defense Authorization Act for.

This bill, passed late last night in a 93-7 vote, declares the entire USA to be a "battleground" upon which U.S. military forces can operate with impunity, overriding Posse Comitatus and granting the military the unchecked power to arrest, detain, interrogate and even assassinate U.S. citizens with impunity.

Even WIRED magazine was outraged at this bill, reporting:

Senate Wants the Military to Lock You Up Without Trial

...the detention mandate to use indefinite military detention in terrorism cases isn't limited to foreigners. It's confusing, because two different sections of the bill seem to contradict each other, but in the judgment of the University of Texas' Robert Chesney — a nonpartisan authority on military detention — "U.S. citizens are included in the grant of detention authority." 

The passage of this law is nothing less than an outright declaration of WAR against the American People by the military-connected power elite. If this is signed into law, it will shred the remaining tenants of the Bill of Rights and unleash upon America a total military dictatorship, complete with secret arrests, secret prisons, unlawful interrogations, indefinite detainment without ever being charged with a crime, the torture of Americans and even the "legitimate assassination" of U.S. citizens right here on American soil!

If you have not yet woken up to the reality of the police state we've been warning you about, I hope you realize we are fast running out of time. Once this becomes law, you have no rights whatsoever in America. — no due process, no First Amendment speech rights, no right to remain silent, nothing.

The US senate does not want us to speak. I suspect even now orders are being shouted into telephones and men with guns will soon be on their way. Why? Because while the truncheon may be used in lieu of conversation, words will always retain their power. Words offer the means to meaning and for those who will listen, the enunciation of truth. And the truth is, there is something terribly wrong with this country, isn't there?

Cruelty and injustice...intolerance and oppression. And where once you had the freedom to object, to think and speak as you saw fit, you now have censors and systems of surveillance, coercing your conformity and soliciting your submission. How did this happen? Who's to blame? Well certainly there are those who are more responsible than others, and they will be held accountable. But again, truth be told...if you're looking for the guilty, you need only look into a mirror.

I know why you did it. I know you were afraid. Who wouldn't be? War. Terror. Disease. There were a myriad of problems which conspired to corrupt your reason and rob you of your common sense. Fear got the best of you and in your panic, you turned to the now President in command Barack Obama. He promised you order. He promised you peace. And all he demanded in return was your silent, obedient consent.

More than four hundred years ago, a great citizen wished to embed the fifth of November forever in our memory. His hope was to remind the world that fairness. Justice, and freedom are more than words - they are perspectives. So if you've seen nothing, if the crimes of this government remain unknown to you, then I would suggest that you allow the fifth of November to pass unmarked. But if you see what I see, if you feel as I feel, and if you would seek as I seek...then I ask you to stand beside one another, one year from November 5th, 2011, outside the gates of every court house of every city DEMANDING our rights!! 

Together we stand against the injustice of our own Government.

We are anonymous.

We are Legion.

United as ONE.

Divided by zero.

We do not forgive Censorship.

We do not forget Oppression.

US SENATE...

Expect us!!

Music by: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart - Requiem