Don’t do it Argentina…
Remember this?
This was The Sun's iconic headline after we liberated the Falklands in 1982.
As you've probably heard, it's coming up the 30th anniversary of '82 and just by 'coincidence', Prince William took up a RAF position there on Thursday.
The Argentinians are claiming that we've done it to wind them up. And we probably have.
Whether Argentina choose to make a big deal out of this is up to them, but whatever they decide, we're prepared for the worst.
"The Royal Navy is understood to have sent a Trafalgar-class sub to the disputed islands."
"His arrival coincides with the announcement that the maiden mission of the Royal Navy's warship — the Destroyer HMS Dauntless — will also be to the South Atlantic."
According to people who know what they're talking about, both HMS Dauntless and the sub could singularly take on the whole of the Argentinian fleet by themselves, so for God's sake, think wisely Argentina.
Megaupload taken down: Is this really the way to go?
Megaupload, one of the internet's largest file-sharing sites, has been shut down by officials in the US.
The site's founders have been charged with violating piracy laws.
Federal prosecutors have accused it of costing copyright holders more than $500m (£320m) in lost revenue.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-16642369
Is this really the way US govt. should roll? Fair enough that copyright holders are losing out, but taking down one site is not going to solve anything. New file sharing sites pop-up every day. I see they've arrested the guys behind Megaupload, but then you move on to - oh, they just run the servers, how do they know what's getting uploaded?
I guess they did know what was going on. The site certainly had a reputation for that kind of thing. And look at how much money they made. But if this was any other site, I guess I'd probably agree. It's not their fault. It's the people who upload the music, films etc. Shouldn't the Law be going after them instead?
All this has caused is mayhem online. Groups like Anonymous take down government sites, and people protest.
They really need to find a new way to combat piracy. Surely there's a way that wont upset anyone and will please record labels and movie producers... It just hasn't been discovered yet.
SOPA and PIPA: postponed in US Congress – looking hopeful
Fight for the Future, which ran the largest organizing sites for the recent SOPA protests (sopastrike.com and americancensorship.org), applauds the announcement that the Senate and House have postponed action on the proposed web censorship bills.
“We sent the MPAA back to the drawing board,” said Fight for the Future Co-founder Holmes Wilson, “But any law that lets the copyright lobby block our websites, censor our search results, or cut off our Paypal accounts--without even going through a judge--will be soundly defeated.”
“This was the largest online protest in history,” said Fight for the Future Co-founder Tiffiniy Cheng, “The MPAA was trying to quietly force this bill through Congress, but when internet users started paying attention, real democracy happened. This is a watershed moment in the fight against lobbyists’ influence on politics.”
“The MPAA could have proposed a law to address copyright infringement,” said Holmes Wilson, “Instead, they proposed giving rightsholders veto power over online innovation and free expression. At that point, it was just a matter of getting the public involved.”
A timeline of the SOPA protests: http://sopastrike.com/timeline
Statistics from the January 18 protest: http://sopastrike.com/numbers
Statistics from the November 16 protest: http://americancensorship.org/infographic2.html
https://fightfortheftr.wordpress.com/press-releases/
In a dramatic display of the power of online protest, a congressional vote on the anti-piracy bills Pipa and Sopa have been shelved after some of the internet's main players demanded a legislative rethink.
Just two days after chunks of the internet went dark in opposition to proposals that critics claim will hamper the flow of online information, Senate majority leader Harry Reid announced the postponement of a planned ballot on Pipa, also known as the Protect IP Act.
Lamar Smith, the Republican chairman of the House Judiciary committee, followed suit, saying his panel would delay action on similar legislation called the Stop Online Piracy Act, or Sopa, until there is wider agreement on the legislation.
The decision to postpone the votes was made in light of "recent events", Reid said – taken to be a reference to Wednesday's day of action in which Wikipedia led the way with a 24-hour blackout.
"It is clear that we need to revisit the approach on how best to address the problem of foreign thieves that steal and sell American inventions and products," Smith said in a statement.
The online demonstration, which was aimed at Pipa and Sopa led to a drop-off in support for the proposed legislation.
During the CNN primary debate in South Carolina on Thursday, the four remaining Republican candidates vying for the White House nod came out against the Sopa. [...]
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jan/20/pipa-vote-shelved-harry-reid
It's looking hopeful, but it's certainly doesn't look like they're going to let go of SOPA and PIPA any time soon.
SOPA & PIPA blackout – Wikipedia, Google, Reddit, Wired all take action
For over a decade, we have spent millions of hours building the largest encyclopedia in human history. Right now, the U.S. Congress is considering legislation that could fatally damage the free and open Internet. - Wikipedia
These bills provide overly broad mechanisms for enforcement of copyright which would restrict innovation and threaten the existence of websites with user-submitted content... - Reddit
We’ve blacked out the headlines on our website homepage today as part of a global internet protest against two radical anti-piracy bills pending in Congress — legislation that threatens to usher in a chilling internet censorship regime here in the U.S. comparable in some ways to China’s “Great Firewall.” - Wired
SOPA is short for 'Stop Online Piracy Act'. It's an act introduced by the US House of Representatives to stop copyright infringement however it will not work.
If this is passed, sites like YouTube could be blocked, just because a user has uploaded an infringing video. It will ruin the net. Google, Wikipedia, Reddit, Twitter and Facebook would be no more.
PIPA is short for 'Protect IP Act'. This gives the US government the power to block any site they would like, at ISP level, from the whole of America. This Act will be abused.
"PIPA would give the government new powers to block Americans' access websites that corporations don't like. The bill lets corporations and the US government censor entire websites and cut sites off from advertising, payments and donations." - http://fightforthefuture.org/pipa/
https://www.google.com/landing/takeaction/sopa-pipa/
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:SOPA_initiative/Learn_more
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jan/18/sopa-blackout-day-of-action-live
http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2012/jan/18/students-mourn-wikipedia-blackout