The law bans films, music videos, books and newspapers that contain homosexual content as well as the rainbow flag, which is a common symbol of gay pride. And the ban may soon no longer be limited to just St. Petersburg and other cities in Russia. At the end of March, Vladimir Putin’s United Russia party introduced a bill in the country’s parliament, the Duma, which would impose the ban at the national level.”We are trying to protect our society from homosexual propaganda,” Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Russian radio three weeks ago.
Négocié plutôt que débattu démocratiquement, ACTA contourne les parlements et les organisations internationales pour imposer une logique répressive dictée par les industries du divertissement. Si il était instauré, cet accord créerait de nouvelles sanctions pénales forçant les acteurs de l’Internet à surveiller et à censurer les communications en ligne. IL s’agit donc d’une menace majeure pour la liberté d’expression en ligne et est porteur d’insécurité juridique pour les entreprises de l’Internet.~ ACTA, une loi déguisée en accord commercial qui criminalise le partage du savoir sur la toile ! | Liberté sur paroles - Emission d’Eugénie Barbezat sur Aligre FM
Most people agree that the internet has made us smarter — will it also make us freer? That depends on how we use it. Burnham believes that industries which produce content (Hollywood, music corporations, television) should be required to adapt, rather than “kill the medium.” He says that although we’re used to seeing artists portrayed as the victims in this debate, it’s really the industries that are suffering. “Artists are beginning to find really creative ways of financing projects, distributing projects, promoting projects and that’s great. The industry is a little bit slower to adapt.” And maybe they should.~ The Right to Piracy: The Conflict Behind SOPA | Think Tank | Big Think
~ Le projet de loi américain Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA) a été ajourné :) - FramablogLes plus grands noms de l’industrie informatique se sont prononcés contre Sopa, y compris l’ingénieur Vint Cerf, l’un des fondateurs d’Internet. Il a récemment tiré la sonnette d’alarme sur le fait que SOPA risquait de provoquer « une course aux armements mondiale de censure sans précédent sur le web ». Stuart Baker, un ancien secrétaire d’Etat du ministère de l’intérieur, a également attiré l’attention sur le fait que SOPA causerait « des dommages importants à la sécurité de l’Internet ».
Etant donné que la majorité des membres de la commission semblaient être en faveur de la proposition de loi, décider de repousser celle-ci sera perçue comme un coup majeur porté aux entreprises de médias qui ont fait un lobbying important pour qu’elle passe. Holmes Wilson, co-fondateur de Fight For The Future, un groupe de lobbying, a déclaré : « c’est une victoire importante, même si elle est temporaire. Ce n’est pas ce qu’ils voulaient ».
The founder and editor-in-chief of WikiLeaks, who published the greatest leak of official documents in history, providing a unique insight into rapacious wars and the lies told by governments, is likely to find himself in a hell hole not dissimilar to the “torturous” dungeon that held Private Bradley Manning, the alleged whistleblower. Manning has not been tried, let alone convicted, yet on 21 April President Barack Obama declared him guilty with a dismissive “He broke the law”.~ New Statesman - The smearing of a revolution
Phone Story is a game for smartphone devices that attempts to provoke a critical reflection on its own technological platform. Under the shiny surface of our electronic gadgets, behind its polished interface, hides the product of a troubling supply chain that stretches across the globe. Phone Story represents this process with four educational games that make the player symbolically complicit in coltan extraction in Congo, outsourced labor in China, e-waste in Pakistan and gadget consumerism in the West.~ The Other Steve Jobs: Censorship, Control and Labor Rights
An official appointed by the United Nations Human Rights Council has released a new report on the state of online free speech around the world. In addition to calling attention to long-standing censorship problems in China, Iran, and other oppressive regimes, the report devotes a surprising amount of attention to speech restrictions in the developed world—and it singles out recently enacted “three strikes” laws in France and the United Kingdom that boot users off the Internet for repeated copyright infringement.~ UN report: “three strikes” Internet laws violate human rights
Les banques ont tout coupé. En une semaine, nous avons subi un manque à gagner de près de 100 000 euros par jour, soit au total un demi-million d’euros. Or ce trésor de guerre nous aurait permis de continuer à fonctionner pendant au moins six mois. Et cette perte augmente jour après jour.~ Julian Assange : “C’est intéressant de voir la censure en Occident” - LeMonde.fr
~ Apple Explains Why It Deleted The WikiLeaks App“We removed WikiLeaks because it violated developer guidelines. An app must comply with all local laws. It may not put an individual or target group in harms way.”
We asked what individual or target was put in harms way, but all we got was a “decline to comment” any further. (All of our follow ups were met with “decline to comment.”)
This is not going to do anything to placate the people that fear Apple’s power over the App Store.
WikiLeaks certainly isn’t being afforded the same protections we give other media outlets in free countries. It has come under significant attack as PayPal, Amazon and Visa have all tried to bar WikiLeaks from their services, a move that would seem unthinkable had it been made against mainstream newspapers. (Can you imagine the outcry if a credit card company decided to cut off The Washington Post because it didn’t like what was on the front page?)~ WikiLeaks Taps Power Of the Press — The Media Equation - NYTimes.com
Corrupt governments of the world, we are anonymous. For some time now, voices have been crying out in unison against the new ACTA laws. The gross inadequacies of the new laws being passed internationally have been pointed out repeatedly. Our chief complaint is that such measures would restrict people’s access to the internet.
In these modern times access to the internet is fast becoming a basic human right. Just like any other basic human right, we believe that it is wrong to infringe upon it. To threaten to cut people off from the global consciousness as you have is criminal and abhorrent. To move to censor content on the internet based on your own prejudice is at best laughably impossible, at worst, morally reprehensible.
Operation Payback - Anonymous Message About ACTA Laws, Internet Censorship and Copyright (via AnonOfTheAbove)
After talking to Bedier backstage, he clarified that the State Department did not directly talk to PayPal and that the letter in question here was actually sent by the State Department to WikiLeaks.~ PayPal VP On Blocking WikiLeaks: State Department Said It Was Illegal
