the law includes a provision ensuring that internet providers can only disconnect their users in a very limited set of circumstances. Internet access is very important for functioning in an information society, and providers currently could on the basis of their terms and conditions disconnect their users for numerous reasons. The provision allows for the disconnection in the case of fraud or when a user doesn’t pay his bills.~ Netherlands first country in Europe with net neutrality « Bits of Freedom
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.
Jeudi après-midi, le rapporteur du texte au Parlement, l’eurodéputé français Kader Arif, a annoncé qu’il quittait son poste de rapporteur. “Je ne participerai pas à cette mascarade”, explique-t-il dans un message publié sur son blog. Dénonçant “la non-association de la société civile”, le “manque de transparence depuis le début des négociations”, la “mise à l’écart des revendications du Parlement européen” mais aussi “des manœuvres inédites de la droite de ce Parlement pour imposer un calendrier accéléré visant à faire passer l’accord au plus vite”, l’eurodéputé dit vouloir “envoyer un signal fort et alerter l’opinion publique sur cette situation inacceptable”.~ Contrefaçon : l’Union européenne signe le traité ACTA - LeMonde.fr
The contacts list and IP address data of Jacob Appelbaum, a WikiLeaks volunteer and developer for Tor was given to the U.S. government after they requested it using a secret court order enabled by a controversial 1986 law called the Electronic Communications Privacy Act, according to the Wall Street Journal. The law allows the government to demand information from ISPs not only without a warrant, but without ever notifying the user.~ Google Hands Wikileaks Volunteer’s Gmail Data to U.S. Government
~ Wikipedia:Comunicato 4 ottobre 2011/en - WikipediaToday, unfortunately, the very pillars on which Wikipedia has been built - neutrality, freedom, and verifiability of its contents - are likely to be heavily compromised by paragraph 29 of a law proposal, also known as “DDL intercettazioni” (Wiretapping Act).
This proposal, which the Italian Parliament is currently debating, provides, among other things, a requirement to all websites to publish, within 48 hours of the request and without any comment, a correction of any content that the applicant deems detrimental to his/her image.
Unfortunately, the law does not require an evaluation of the claim by an impartial third judge - the opinion of the person allegedly injured is all that is required, in order to impose such correction to any website.
As the study points out, encouraging the ‘cooperation’ between internet providers and the content industry amounts to privatised policing, violating the rule of law and the right to fair judicial process. ACTA also allows for the monitoring of internet users without initial suspicion, the handing over of their personal data to rights holders on the basis of mere claims and the transfer of this data even to countries without adequate data protection, all of which is in clear conflict with legal guarantees of fundamental rights in the EU. The agreement does not contain ‘fair use’ clauses or exceptions for trivial or minimal infringements. It therefore tilts the balance - both in terms of substance and of process - unfairly in favour of rights holders and against users and citizens.~ ACTA anti-counterfeiting agreement - Content - The Greens | European Free Alliance
~ 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.
In the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, bankers and brokers were sometimes indistinguishable. Then, in the Great Depression after 1929, Congress examined the mixing of the “commercial” and “investment” banking industries that occurred in the 1920s. Hearings revealed conflicts of interest and fraud in some banking institutions’ securities activities. A formidable barrier to the mixing of these activities was then set up by the Glass Steagall Act.~ Glass–Steagall Act - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Clearly the culture at the CIA or any other US intelligence agency is not about to change anytime soon, no matter who is elected president. What I find more disturbing is the lack of attention paid to these cases in the media. The reporting is there, but where is the discussion of what it means for us as a nation and what is to be done about it? Indeed, within the punditocracy, you will find far more defenders of official torture than people questioning how it happens in a nation where it is supposed to be against the law. (The Washington Post just added its second torture champion, Commentary’s Jennifer Rubin, to its stable of pundits, where she will join ex-Bush speechwriter and torture fan Marc Thiessen.)~ The CIA: A Law Unto Itself | The Nation
“En réalité, la désobéissance civile, comme toute action favorable aux réformes, s’apparente plutôt à une première poussée ver le haut de la colline. En matière sociale, la tendance est au conservatisme. L’histoire de l’humanité montre que la révolte n’est qu’une réaction occasionnelle à la souffrance des hommes. On trouve infiniment plus d’exemples de soumission à l’autorité que de révolte contre l’ordre établi. Et il faudrait davantage se soucier du penchant que montrent les individus confrontés à des injustices accablantes à s’y soumettre que de leur aptitude naturelle à se révolter. Historiquement, les événements les plus atroces - guerres, génocides et esclavage - doivent plus à l’obéissance aveugle qu’à la désobéissance.”
Howard Zinn, Désobéissance civile et démocratie, chapitre “Loi et justice”
The Catonsville Nine were nine Catholic activists who burned draft files to protest the Vietnam War. On May 17, 1968 they went to the draft board in Catonsville, Maryland, took 378 draft files, brought them to the parking lot in wire baskets, dumped them out, poured homemade napalm over them, and set them on fire. (from Wikipedia)
“Our apologies good friends for the fracture of good order
the burning of paper instead of children
For the sake of that order
we risk our liberty, our good name
The time is past when good men may be silent
when obedience can segregate men from public risk
when the poor can die without defense
How many indeed must die before our voices are heard
how many must be tortured dislocated, starved, maddened?” (from tomjoad.org)
Catonsville Nine (via jakem0545)
~ Pour les libertés publiques. Contre le projet de loi sur le voile intégral : LAÏCITE ET REGARD CRITIQUE SUR LA SOCIETEL’ordre public désormais permettra de « prohiber des comportements qui IRAIENT INDIRECTEMENT à l’encontre du contrat social républicain ». Le conditionnel, qui montre qu’on peut se dispenser de preuves avérées ; le « indirectement » qui permet une interprétation très large , tout cela dépasse de loin le problème du nicab.
Enfin, ce projet de loi est anti-musulman : il comporte des expressions comme « réclusion publique » (et non « réclusion »), et « coupé des autres tout en vivant au milieu d’eux » (et non pas simplement « coupé des autres ») pour ne pas viser les religieux et religieuses catholiques[2] ou d’autres confessions.
Autrement dit : vous avez le droit à un engagement religieux radical, mais pas dans n’importe quelle religion
Autrement dit : vous avez le droit à la réclusion, à vous coupé des autres, mais alors vous devez le faire totalement : cela montre que l’invocation des principes du « vivre ensemble » est, en fait, un prétexte.
