^Rob Lowe tweeting that Peyton Manning is retiring is causing quite a stir. :lol:

Signed and shared. Thanks

Hollywood moguls stopping Obama donations.

 

http://m.deadline.com/2012/01/exclusive-hollywood-moguls-stopping-obama-donations-because-of-administrations-piracy-stand/

^ Nice, this thing can't possibly pass. I don't think they are THAT stupid.

 

Never underestimate the power of human stupidity.

 

- Robert Heinlein

Signed.

Hollywood moguls stopping Obama donations.

 

http://m.deadline.com/2012/01/exclusive-hollywood-moguls-stopping-obama-donations-because-of-administrations-piracy-stand/

 

No surprise there.

That makes sense. Plus, without social media it might be harder to spread news and awareness about this thing. I imagine that tomorrow facebook and twitter will see quite a few posts on the topic as people begin to realize why Wikipedia isn't working.

 

Exactly what I was thinking about facebook as well. For some teachers this day in age that would be like turning off their cell phones..... And I don't mean because that would limit their internet access lol.

Some funny tweets about the the protest:

 

To protest SOPA, the internet goes black. Great, now my parents will be even more afraid of it.

 

until today, I never realized how much I don't need Wikipedia

 

BTW, once China fully owns us this is what the internet will look like all the time, so we might as well get used to it. #SOPA

 

Hey Wikipedia, you wanna not black out the day I need you? What do you have against soap.

@ScottAukerman: What is SOPA? "It's what-a you clean-a you face wit!" *mildly edited for content*

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Vzpm6hKe4c

 

Listen to how clueless Congress is regarding what exactly this bill does and how. It's pathetic.

 

Skip to 2:10 for the Congress debate. Ignore the Jon Stewart humor if you don't like him.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Vzpm6hKe4c

 

Listen to how clueless Congress is regarding what exactly this bill does and how. It's pathetic.

 

Skip to 2:10 for the Congress debate. Ignore the Jon Stewart humor if you don't like him.

 

 

Thought it was hilarious well atleast for the first 6 minutes.

In my Public Economics course today, the vast majority of our lecture focused on normative (what the government should do) vs. positive analysis (what the government is doing). Anyway, we basically had a brief history lesson on the subject. My professor read a few excerpts from Adam Smith's Wealth of Nations (written in 1776), and how the sovereign bodies have three main duties. They have the duty: 1) to protect against invasion, 2) protect every member of society from injustices done to them by other members of society, 3) produce public goods. It seems every, single day that these politicians forget their role even more. This SOPA thing is a joke. I haven't heard one logical human being that I know cite one potentially beneficial byproduct of this bill. Get a grip on reality, Congress. My goodness.

http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2012/01/sopa-bill-sent-back-to-the-drawing-board-in-wake-of-internet-protests.html

 

It's not over, but this is a small temporary victory for the people.

So following the temporary retreat of those leading the charge on PIPA and SOPA, the next big internet story was that the federal government dropped the hammer on filesharing site MegaUpload yesterday. The site's domain names were seized, more than $50 million in assets were confiscated and the Justice Department got police in New Zealand to arrest four of the site's employees, including its founder. This was a big win for the entertainment companies and for the Justice Dept., who had been in a battle with MegaUpload for quite some time.

 

Within minutes, hackers associated with the group Anonymous had used a rather simple hacker trick to take down the internet sites of the FBI and Justice Department, the RIAA, the MPAA and several companies who had taken part in the case against MegaUpload.

 

My point here is not to argue which is right and which is wrong -- that should speak for itself -- but that we're currently in a bad place. We've seen the beginning of what I fear could be an escalation. The Justice Department, following new laws lobbied for and pushed through by entertainment companies, will continue to try and enforce tougher and tougher controls while a growing and increasingly upset group continues to wreak havoc across the internet for those attempting to control it.

 

The shutdown of MegaUpload demonstrated that the system is in place to take down those sites that are actually responsible for enabling rampant online piracy and they don't need SOPA or PIPA to do it. But it looks as though Congress and their big donors from Hollywood are going to continue demanding tighter and tighter controls... controls which will do little to stop ACTUAL online piracy. Their effect will almost certainly mean an escalation in this absurd conflict between those demanding absolute content control and those demanding an absolutely free "Wild West" internet. Neither side will get what they want.

So following the temporary retreat of those leading the charge on PIPA and SOPA, the next big internet story was that the federal government dropped the hammer on filesharing site MegaUpload yesterday. The site's domain names were seized, more than $50 million in assets were confiscated and the Justice Department got police in New Zealand to arrest four of the site's employees, including its founder. This was a big win for the entertainment companies and for the Justice Dept., who had been in a battle with MegaUpload for quite some time.

 

Within minutes, hackers associated with the group Anonymous has used a rather simple hacker trick to take down the internet sites of the FBI and Justice Department, the RIAA, the MPAA and several companies who had taken part in the case against MegaUpload.

 

My point here is not to argue which is right and which is wrong -- that should speak for itself -- but that we're currently in a bad place. We've seen the beginning of what I fear could be an escalation. The Justice Department, following new laws lobbied for and pushed through by entertainment companies, will continue to try and enforce tougher and tougher controls while a growing and increasingly upset group continues to wreak havoc across the internet for those attempting to control it.

 

The shutdown of MegaUpload demonstrated that the system is in place to take down those sites that are actually responsible for enabling rampant online piracy and they don't need SOPA or PIPA to do it. But it looks as though Congress and their big donors from Hollywood are going to continue demanding tighter and tighter controls... controls which will do little to stop ACTUAL online piracy. Their effect will almost certainly mean an escalation in this absurd conflict between those demanding absolute content control and those demanding an absolutely free "Wild West" internet. Neither side will get what they want.

 

Is this the first real cyber war?