Congress has been busy…not passing gun control legislation, mind you, but busy all the same. While national attention was focused elsewhere during this week, the Cyber Intelligence Sharing and Protection Act (CISPA) passed in the US House of Representatives by a vote of 288 – 127. The bill must pass the Senate, and overcome President Obama’s threat to veto on the Act on civil liberties grounds, before it becomes law.… [Read more]
Remember SOPA, the Stop Online Piracy Act about copyrighted material that, if passed, would have allowed the government and various corporations to censor the internet? And do you remember SOPA’s more stringent cousin, ACTA, the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, which is an agreement to create global intellectual property (IP) enforcement standards that reach far beyond current international laws but would have had the effect of killing innovation and shutting down entire websites?… [Read more]
Tomorrow in Europe, the protest posters and banners will state it clearly: “Say YES to an Open Internet by Voting ‘NO’ on ACTA.” For those who aren’t aware, ACTA is the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement that is entering its final vote in the European Union’s parliament.
What’s the big deal? Unless it is voted down, online privacy as we know it will cease to exist.… [Read more]
