Remember SOPA and PIPA, the two copyright-protection bills that stirred the internet into a frenzy in in late 2011 and early 2012?…
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Hey Hollywood, forget SOPA, ACTA & TPP. Embrace Netflix instead
Here's a novel idea for Hollywood: Instead of forcing other countries to adopt ever tougher copyright laws, help services like Netflix and Hulu to launch operations overseas. And forcing U.S. consumers to authenticate before they can watch TV online might not be the smartest idea either.…
Read MoreCriminalizing links: Why the Richard O’Dwyer case matters
The U.S. government continues to try and extradite British college student Richard O'Dwyer for simply linking to copyright-infringing files, on a site located in the UK. If they are successful, it could change the way we think about some of the fundamental underpinnings of the web.…
Read MoreIs the UN the next big threat to Internet freedom?
An arm of the United Nations says that because the Internet is a global entity, it should be controlled and managed by the UN. But critics say turning over control to the agency could put the openness and freedom of the Internet in jeopardy.…
Read MoreGoogle launches the “power of the internet” campaign
Google announced a new project - Take Action - that asks you to tell your story about the Internet and share it with the social web. Its motive: build grassroots momentum and keep check on widely reviled legislations such as SOPA, PIPA and their new variants.…
Read MoreToday in Connected Consumer
In the wake of the epic battle over SOPA and PIPA, companies in Silicon Valley have been ramping up their political and…
Read MoreLamar Smith: SOPA protesters were “misinformed.”
SOPA sponsor and defender Representative Lamar Smith (R-TX) just can't let the ideas that led him to sponsor the Stop Online Piracy Act die. In an interview in a community paper he pledged to deal with online piracy, and called SOPA supporters misinformed.…
Read MoreWhy it’s wrong to call copyright infringement “theft”
We've gotten used to the content industries arguing that what happens when people download or make copies is "theft." But using that term muddies the waters when it comes to what copyright is supposed to be about, and lends support to irrational laws and court decisions.…
Read MoreIt’s not about piracy, it’s about a failure to adapt
Y Combinator founder Paul Graham is right when he says that the continued push for legislation like SOPA and PIPA is a result of a failure to adapt to the changing environment the internet has created when it comes to intellectual property and the content industries.…
Read MoreCould crowdsourcing be a better way to make legislation?
In an attempt to come up with better laws on copyright, Reddit is crowdsourcing the creation of a Free Internet Act, while Public Knowledge is trying to introduce its own alternatives. But will crowdsourcing work, or will it just add to the chaos and confusion?…
Read MoreHow Marc Andreessen makes Silicon Valley magic
At just 2.5 years old, Andreessen Horowitz, the VC firm founded by Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz, has become a tech industry institution with holdings in Facebook, Twitter, and more. GigaOM talked with Andreessen to get his thoughts on Silicon Valley and the larger tech landscape.…
Read MoreACTA 2.0 is like a backdoor way to enact SOPA
The activists fighting for less-draconian copyright laws have seized the opportunity afforded to them by the defeat of the Stop Online Piracy Act and the Protect IP Act in the U.S. Congress to go after a bigger topic, the exportation of SOPA-style laws abroad.…
Read MoreGaiman: SOPA and PIPA are on the wrong side of history
Author Neil Gaiman said in an interview this week that the media industry is trying to "put genies back in bottles" with laws like SOPA and PIPA, and the Internet has fundamentally changed the landscape, just as Gutenberg's invention of the printing press did.…
Read MoreIf Congress wants jobs, it can’t want SOPA
SOPA and PIPA supporters still have faith in their shelved bills, citing the jobs they'll save as making the bills worthy of salvage. However, the Internet economy is a potential job creator the likes of which Hollywood -- already its own worst enemy -- could ever be.…
Read MoreWhy I’m fighting SOPA: We need a solution, but a better solution
SOPA is too extreme to be a practical solution, according to Tom Gimbel of Austin City Limits, but he believes we need a policy that encourages online creativity and economic growth while also protecting intellectual property. It's not as exciting to advocate for a compromise, but that's what's needed.…
Read MoreLeaders In House And Senate Postpone Anti-Piracy Efforts
The push for controversial legislation known as SOPA and PIPA appears to have unraveled completely after leaders in both the House and Senat……
Read MoreNice work web! More than 13M of y’all fought SOPA
On Wednesday the web went wild (or dark) and more than 13 million people protested the potential passage of SOPA and PIPA. Fight for the Future offered some stats today to show exactly how wild things got. Read on for the nitty gritty details.…
Read MoreVideo: Clay Shirky On Why SOPA Is A Bad Idea
Want the short course on why SOPA is getting such blowback? Clay Shirky breaks it down in this 13-minute talk at the TED offices, explaining……
Read MoreSOPA website gallery: The day the Internet went dark
Numerous sites went black Wednesday to protest the SOPA and PIPA bills. Participants included Wikipedia, Google, Craigslist, Greenpeace, Reddit, 4Chan and others, and many didn't just stop at adding a black background. Check out our website gallery to take a look at some of the sites.…
Read MoreSOPA and PIPA for newbies
If you're just hearing about SOPA and PIPA, the complexity of these controversial bills can seem daunting. Here's your quick guide to the proposed pieces of legislation and a one-stop shop of resources that can help you learn much, much more.…
Read MoreWhat does a kid’s birthday cake have to do with SOPA?
In a presentation about SOPA and PIPA, author and media theorist Clay Shirky starts with an anecdote about a mom-and-pop bakery in his old neighborhood that made custom birthday cakes for children. What does that have to do with piracy? More than you might think.…
Read MoreNew York protest takes PIPA/SOPA fight to senators
Members of New York's tech community, a couple thousand strong, braved the winter chill and gathered outside the offices of New York senators Charles Schumer and Kirsten Gillibrand to protest the PIPA and SOPA legislation Wednesday, calling it a potentially crippling set of bills.…
Read MoreHas Wikipedia broken faith with users by going dark?
Critics of Wikipedia's decision to shut the encyclopedia down as a protest against U.S. anti-piracy legislation say the site shouldn't be taking an advocacy position on such an issue, but if anything, that decision is a great illustration of how Wikipedia functions and why it's important.…
Read MoreUpdate: Wikipedia Is Dark, But Mobile Site/Apps Stay Bright In SOPA Protest
A small loophole for Wikipedia's SOPA and PIPA protest, in which the English-language version of the site has gone dark for 24 hours: the mo……
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