July 9, 2012
Governments across the world have tried to tame the Internet as a tempest of new technology threatens everything from strict government censorship and control over the media to entrenched media conglomerates and old concepts of acceptable speech. Like King Canute commanding the tide to turn back and not disturb him, governments have put up laws against everything from forwarding emails and commenting online in an attempt to stop the inevitable.
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May 3, 2012
Back in January, the Internet got together in a co-ordinated effort to defeat a US Bill called SOPA (Stop Online Piracy Act) which was making its way through Congress. When the Bill was finally brought to a screeching halt, everyone high-fived each other, convinced that the efforts by the US Government and various media companies [...]
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February 10, 2012
Trouble is brewing, dear readers. Our rights and freedoms are under increasingly under attack from corporate entities with enough money to control those in power. We may have won a minor victory against SOPA, but that's the least of our worries. We can't keep up the fight forever, and I predict we're heading to a dark, dark place. Let's look at the evidence.
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February 3, 2012
If you’ve been following the news lately at all, you’ve probably heard of both the SOPA/PIPA acts against copyrights infringement, and the arrest of Megaupload’s founder, Kim Dotcom. You don’t have to be a file sharing enthusiast for these things to affect you and while I am hardly an enthusiast myself, it’s hard to ignore the obvious connection between these events, and the obvious conclusion we should all be reaching.
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January 31, 2012
You may have noticed on January 18th that plenty of big websites participated in an Internet blackout as a protest of the US government’s proposed SOPA legislation. Despite the SOPA plans being dropped for now, there are still numerous similar acts of legislation being proposed. If you’re planning on supporting future protests, you might like to know what Google recommends you do.
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January 30, 2012
Piracy is fast reaching the point where it affects nearly every single Internet user in some way or another. Often the attempts to curb the illegal downloading of copyrighted materials threaten to spill over and affect other aspects of our online lives, much like the recent debate regarding SOPA and PIPA. For film-makers the impact [...]
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January 26, 2012
SOPA has been a really big deal as of late, as the piece of legislation is still stuck in the American Congress, and there is no clear sign that it will get rejected. The movement to fight against SOPA has quickly been gaining momentum, including some pretty daring Internet "blackouts". However, what if you want to do something other than constantly shout out your opinion over social media?
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January 24, 2012
In recent weeks, the Internet has been up in arms about the proposed SOPA/PIPA legislation. Many people see these measures as incredibly powerful and therefore dangerous to businesses and individuals online. While most people will agree it's worth protecting the income of artists, history shows that the entertainment industry is somewhat overzealous with their accusations of copyright infringement.
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January 24, 2012
In the middle of some very aggressive anti-SOPA/PIPA protests, the feds managed to prove that they don't need to pass such a bill to pull the plug on a certain internet website. The casualty this in this instance was long-time file sharing giant MegaUpload (along with the entire "Mega" network of sites). All that's left to ponder now is why it happened and what site may get hit next.
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January 22, 2012
As the day of online activism opposing SOPA and PIPA continued, supporters quickly began to have second thoughts. Now, the final blows have been struck. Senator Harry Reid has decided to put the Protect IP Act on permanent hiatus, and Representative Lamar Smith pulled his support for the Stop Online Piracy Act. In doing so, the bills have been effectively killed.
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January 18, 2012
If you visit any tech news sites, you might have heard about a pair of bills proposed in the United States called the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) and the Protect IP Act (PIPA). These bills could give United States law enforcement the authority to go after international sites committing or facilitating intellectual property infringement by obtaining court orders to block domain names.
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January 5, 2012
Last year was a successful year for a number of companies. Apple successfully launched a new iPad and iPhone, both of which sold like hot cakes. Google launched Google+, a social network we’re all glad to be a part of and Skyrim lived up to the hype (and at times surpassed it). Not everyone had a great 2011 though, and for some companies the sun never seemed to shine.
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December 15, 2011
Ever since the Internet began, online piracy has been a big problem with the two biggest casualties being the music industry (RIAA) and the movie industry (MPAA). The Internet made it extremely easy to download whatever people wanted and the music & movie industries responded with copy protection measures, including the infamous and universally hated Digital Rights Management (DRM).
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