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thedailywhat: CISPA Update of the Day: CISPA, the Cyber Information Sharing and Protection Act that passed the House in April, likely is headed for a Senate vote in early June. To drum up opposition to the legislation, which would create “a ‘cybersecurity’ exemption to all existing laws,” Fight for the Future, Democrats.com, The Liberty Coalition, and the Entertainment Consumers Association have created a new website called Privacy Is Awesome. The site outlines the top five ways to help defeat CISPA: Call your senators and tell them to oppose the Lieberman-Collins bill (CISPA), and ask for a constituent meeting during the Memorial Day recess to help change their mind. Email senators offices about CISPA, expressing your opposition. Keep calling senators until they plan a constituent meeting. Donate to anti-CISPA organizers — the same teams that helped defeat SOPA/PIPA. Share your opposition online — Facebook, Twitter, etc. Meanwhile, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is spearheading opposition to the legislation, concluding a recent Senate floor speech with: I believe these bills will encourage the development of a cyber security industry that profits from fear and whose currency is Americans private data. These bills create a Cyber Industrial Complex that has an interest in preserving the problem to which it is the solution. Watch the full video here. It’s terrific. [death+taxes}

thedailywhat:

CISPA Update of the Day: CISPA, the Cyber Information Sharing and Protection Act that passed the House in April, likely is headed for a Senate vote in early June.

To drum up opposition to the legislation, which would create “a ‘cybersecurity’ exemption to all existing laws,” Fight for the Future, Democrats.com, The Liberty Coalition, and the Entertainment Consumers Association have created a new website called Privacy Is Awesome. The site outlines the top five ways to help defeat CISPA:

  • Call your senators and tell them to oppose the Lieberman-Collins bill (CISPA), and ask for a constituent meeting during the Memorial Day recess to help change their mind.
  • Email senators offices about CISPA, expressing your opposition.
  • Keep calling senators until they plan a constituent meeting.
  • Donate to anti-CISPA organizers — the same teams that helped defeat SOPA/PIPA.
  • Share your opposition online — Facebook, Twitter, etc.

Meanwhile, Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., is spearheading opposition to the legislation, concluding a recent Senate floor speech with:

I believe these bills will encourage the development of a cyber security industry that profits from fear and whose currency is Americans private data. These bills create a Cyber Industrial Complex that has an interest in preserving the problem to which it is the solution.

Watch the full video here. It’s terrific.

[death+taxes}

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thedailywhat: CISPA Vote of the Day: CISPA — the most unpopular bill on the Internet, no matter what Facebook says — passed late Thursday with a 248-168 vote in the GOP-controlled House. What you might have missed, helpfully pointed out by Forbes‘ Andy Greenberg: Even before it passed, the House voted to amend the bill to actually allow even more types of private sector information to be shared with government agencies, not merely in matters of cybersecurity or national security, but in the investigation of vaguely defined cybersecurity “crimes,” “protection of individuals the danger of death or serious bodily harm,” and cases where that involve the protection of minors from exploitation. The CISPA fight now heads to the Democrat-controlled Senate. If the bill manages to reach his desk, President Obama has threatened a veto. [death+taxes]

thedailywhat:

CISPA Vote of the Day: CISPA — the most unpopular bill on the Internet, no matter what Facebook says — passed late Thursday with a 248-168 vote in the GOP-controlled House.

What you might have missed, helpfully pointed out by Forbes‘ Andy Greenberg:

Even before it passed, the House voted to amend the bill to actually allow even more types of private sector information to be shared with government agencies, not merely in matters of cybersecurity or national security, but in the investigation of vaguely defined cybersecurity “crimes,” “protection of individuals the danger of death or serious bodily harm,” and cases where that involve the protection of minors from exploitation.

The CISPA fight now heads to the Democrat-controlled Senate. If the bill manages to reach his desk, President Obama has threatened a veto.

[death+taxes]

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nationalpost: Internet addiction has same effect as cocaine on brains: studyThis is your brain on the Internet: Messed up where there should be connections for making decisions and having normal emotions.Results of a new study suggest people who cannot control, cut back or stop their use of the Internet have abnormal white matter structure in the brain similar to what is seen in cocaine and crystal-meth addicts.According to the study’s authors, as the number of people logging onto cyberspace soars, “Internet addiction disorder” — which is poised to enter the official lexicon of psychiatric illnesses — “is becoming a serious mental-health issue around the world.”The disorder, as described in the study published this week in the journal PLoS One, is defined as “problematic” or pathological computer use that can cause “marked distress” and interfere with school, work, family and social relationships.For their study, led by Hao Lei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan, researchers scanned the brains of 17 teens and young adults, aged 14 to 24, with Internet addiction and 16 healthy “controls” of similar age.People were classified as suffering from Internet addiction disorder, or IAD, based on a questionnaire that included the following: Do you feel preoccupied with the Internet? Do you stay online longer than originally intended? Do you feel restless, moody, depressed or irritable when attempting to cut down or stop Internet use? Nope. That’s not me at all.

nationalpost:

Internet addiction has same effect as cocaine on brains: study
This is your brain on the Internet: Messed up where there should be connections for making decisions and having normal emotions.

Results of a new study suggest people who cannot control, cut back or stop their use of the Internet have abnormal white matter structure in the brain similar to what is seen in cocaine and crystal-meth addicts.

According to the study’s authors, as the number of people logging onto cyberspace soars, “Internet addiction disorder” — which is poised to enter the official lexicon of psychiatric illnesses — “is becoming a serious mental-health issue around the world.”

The disorder, as described in the study published this week in the journal PLoS One, is defined as “problematic” or pathological computer use that can cause “marked distress” and interfere with school, work, family and social relationships.

For their study, led by Hao Lei of the Chinese Academy of Sciences in Wuhan, researchers scanned the brains of 17 teens and young adults, aged 14 to 24, with Internet addiction and 16 healthy “controls” of similar age.

People were classified as suffering from Internet addiction disorder, or IAD, based on a questionnaire that included the following: Do you feel preoccupied with the Internet? Do you stay online longer than originally intended? Do you feel restless, moody, depressed or irritable when attempting to cut down or stop Internet use?

Nope. That’s not me at all.

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What was clear, from the beginning, was that the SOPA supporters were not there in good faith. They had no intention of listening to reasonable suggestions to fix the bill, and stuck together as a bloc to reject pretty much all of them — even while admitting their own ignorance. The really sad part was when Goodlatte tried to equate the views of a couple of policy analysts who get money from the entertainment industry, with the views of nearly 100 independent internet engineers who have pointed out how problematic SOPA really would be. Watt and others tried to pretend that because each side could turn up someone who would say something that those views were equal. It’s the insane Congressional equivalent of “he-said/she-said” journalism, where you “hear” both sides, but never seek out the truth. That’s nuts.
SOPA Markup Day 1: We Don’t Understand This Bill, It Might Do Terrible Things, But Dammit, We’re Passing It Now | Techdirt (h/t Steve Kondik and Wil Wheaton)
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thedailywhat:

This Is Important, You Should Know About It of the Day: The despicable Internet Blacklist Bill — known as the “PROTECT IP Act” or S. 968 in the Senate and the “Stop Online Piracy Act” or H.R. 3261 in the House — has been discussed on TDW in the past, but crunch-time is upon us as Congress officially began holding hearings today on the most harmful Internet censorship legislation of our time.

An informative video on the bill’s many ills has been posted above, but, in brief, the legislation, if passed, would essentially hand the Internet over to corporations, allowing them to sue and shut down any website that so much as hosts a link to copyrighted material.

Internet Service Providers could be forced to block social media sites, search engines could be required to delete results, and startups could lose their funding — all on the whim of the copyright holder.

Perhaps most distressing of all, however, is the fact that this bill, in true Orwellian fashion, does nothing to prevent actual piracy. The only thing it will succeed in doing is turning the Internet into a dystopic plutocracy where people are no longer free to share ideas and be creative for fear of running afoul of Big Business.

Despite what some would have you believe, the hearings are offensively lopsided, with pro-SOPA voices far outweighing those opposed. A slew of tech companies including Google, Yahoo!, Mozilla, Twitter, and AOL, have undersigned a full-page ad in today’s New York Times opposing SOPA, but it’s doubtful their voices will be heard by those who need to hear it. 

That means it’s up to you to get this terrifying, jobs-killing, Internet-breaking bill off the table for good. Here are a few things you can do:

— Reach out to your representatives in congress. Despite what they might think, they work for you. Remind them of that by e-mailing them this form letter (good), or look them up and write them a personal, heartfelt letter (even better).

— Sign this petition, and also this one.

— Share this post and/or the video above. 

— Get the word out any way you can, because, soon, you may no longer be allowed to.

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American Censorship Day November 16 - Join the fight to stop SOPA →

randomberlinchick:

SOPA = Stop Online Piracy Act = dimwittedness

Foes of a controversial copyright measure have gained some high-profile allies: Google, Facebook, Twitter, Zynga, and other Web companies have joined the ranks of the bill’s opponents.

They sent a letter (PDF) last night to key members of the U.S. Senate and House of Representatives, saying the Stop Online Piracy Act, or SOPA, “pose[s] a serious risk to our industry’s continued track record of innovation and job creation, as well as to our nation’s cybersecurity.”

The protest was designed to raise objections in advance of a hearing before the full House Judiciary committee tomorrow at 10 a.m. ET (7 a.m. PT). The letter, also signed by eBay, Mozilla, Yahoo, AOL, and LinkedIn, asks politicians to “consider more targeted ways to combat foreign ‘rogue’ Web sites.”

Read the rest on CNET.

(H/T: inothernews)

(via inothernews)

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thedailywhat: Internet Filtration System of the Day: A modest proposal from Matthew Baldwin (AKA defective yeti): Internet Access Captchas to keep certain less-desirable types off the Information Superhighway. Here’s what happens when you’re your grammar skills aren’t up to snuff: Problem solved? [thd.] Love. It. This goes everywhere.

thedailywhat:

Internet Filtration System of the Day: A modest proposal from Matthew Baldwin (AKA defective yeti): Internet Access Captchas to keep certain less-desirable types off the Information Superhighway.

Here’s what happens when you’re your grammar skills aren’t up to snuff:

Problem solved?

[thd.]

Love. It.

This goes everywhere.

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