legislation

Media Minutes: January 13, 2012

Candace Clement — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 16:34:09 -0500

TV news programs are ignoring controversial legislation that could end the Internet as we know it. And residents of California’s eastern Coachella Valley finally have reporters they can rely on to produce hard-hitting investigative media: youth journalists.

Al Gore Comes Out Against SOPA/PIPA

Stevie Converse — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 11:23:34 -0500

Full article: TechDirt
Mike Masnick
Al Gore has come out strongly against SOPA and PIPA, angrily denouncing the bill and its supporters. In a video, Gore doesn't focus only on "foreign" sites as supporters of these bills would like everyone to do; he points out that these bills put new requirements on many domestic Internet companies.

How the U.S. Pressured Spain to Adopt Unpopular Web-Blocking Law

Stevie Converse — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 11:14:23 -0500

Full article: Ars Technica
Nate Anderson
Though a deeply divided Congress is currently considering Internet website censorship legislation, the United States has no such official policy. Nor does the United States have a government-backed "three strikes" or "graduated response" system of escalating warnings to particular users accused of downloading music and movies from file-sharing networks. Yet here was the ultimatum that the U.S. Embassy in Madrid gave the Spanish government in February 2008: adopt such measures or we will punish you.

Is Grover Norquist Breaking Up With SOPA?

Stevie Converse — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 10:45:59 -0500

Full article: CNet
Declan McCullagh
Rep. Lamar Smith, chairman of the House Judiciary committee, proudly announced last month that Grover Norquist's Americans for Tax Reform had endorsed his controversial Stop Online Piracy Act. In the last few weeks, though, the famously combative conservative group, a longtime ally of copyright holders, has become noticeably less enthusiastic about the Hollywood-backed copyright bill.

News Networks Ignore Controversial SOPA Legislation

Stevie Converse — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 08:18:24 -0500

Full article: Media Matters for America
Ben Dimiero
Controversial legislation that the co-founder of Google has warned "would put us on a par with the most oppressive nations in the world" has received virtually no coverage from major American television news outlets during their evening newscasts and opinion programming.

The Internet's Perilous New Year's Resolution

Stevie Converse — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 11:40:48 -0500

Full article: Technology Review
David Talbot
Internet legislation that is scheduled for a vote in the U.S. Senate next month would aim to stop the unlicensed downloading of billions of dollars' worth of movies and music — as well as the trade in counterfeit drugs and other goods — by blocking access to certain websites, many of them registered abroad. But its basic strategies could lead to trouble on several fronts.

The Danger of an Attack on Piracy Online

Stevie Converse — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 11:37:06 -0500

Full article: New York Times
David Carr
Virtually every traditional media company in the United States loudly and enthusiastically supports SOPA, but that doesn’t mean it's good for the rest of us. The open consumer Web has been a motor of American innovation and the attempt to curtail some of its excesses could throw sand in the works of a big machine on which we have all come to rely.

Boycott Forces GoDaddy to Drop Its Support for SOPA

Stevie Converse — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 11:28:51 -0500

Full article: Ars Technica
Timothy B. Lee
Under intense pressure from an Internet-wide boycott, domain registrar GoDaddy has given the open Internet an early Christmas present: it's dropping its support for the Stop Online Piracy Act.

No Cuts to Public Media in the Next Budget

Stevie Converse — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 09:07:12 -0500

Full article: SavetheNews.org
Josh Stearns
President Obama recently signed next year's funding bill, which provides level funding of $445 million for the Corporation for Public Broadcasting for fiscal year 2014 (the CPB budget is determined two years in advance). This is a huge win for the public. But the fight is not over. Snuck into the funding bill is a requirement that the CPB study alternative funding streams, signaling there may be future attacks on its federal support.

GoDaddy Accused of Interfering with Anti-SOPA Exodus

Stevie Converse — Tue, 03 Jan 2012 08:31:11 -0500

Full article: CNet
Declan McCullagh
An effort by GoDaddy customers to boycott the domain registrar over its support for Hollywood-backed copyright legislation has sparked allegations of foul play. NameCheap, whose chief executive last week likened the Stop Online Piracy Act to "detonating a nuclear bomb" on the Internet, said that GoDaddy has intentionally thrown up technical barriers to prevent its customers from leaving.