Daily Archives: 19 January 2012

GoDaddy and SOPA

GoDaddy not only helped write #SOPA they are also exempt from it.
open quoteYou may have heard about the mass exodus of customers from GoDaddy due to their support of SOPA. You may have also heard that GoDaddy no longer supports SOPA. The problem is, only one of those things is true. While GoDaddy no longer publicly supports SOPA, that is just a PR move. They have not withdrawn official support for the bill, let alone actually come out in opposition to it. But it gets worse. According to [THIS ARTICLE], not only did GoDaddy help write the damn thing, they are also exempt from complying with the law!close quote (Read more)

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Imgur to Boycott GoDaddy Over SOPA Support
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www.carbonated.tv/biztech/wikipedia-boycotts-godaddy-over-sopa
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How to Jump Ship from GoDaddy to a Better Web Host and Registrar
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Boycott forces GoDaddy to drop its support for SOPA (Read more)

GoDaddy Boycott Fizzles; Twice As Many Domains Transfer In As Out
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List of Companies behind SOPA

List of Companies behind PIPA

AP: CIA eyes up to 5M tweets a day

open quoteThe Central Intelligence Agency is systematically monitoring Twitter, following up to 5 million foreign tweets a day, according to a new report.

The CIA’s Open Source Center reviews and analyzes information widely available to the general public, including Twitter and Facebook, and keeps eyes on everything from blogs to tweets to more traditional media, The Associated Press says in a feature article on the unit.close quote (Read more)

US Threatened To Blacklist Spain For Not Implementing Site Blocking Law

open quoteIn a leaked letter sent to Spain’s outgoing President, the US ambassador to the country warned that as punishment for not passing a SOPA-style file-sharing site blocking law, Spain risked being put on a United States trade blacklist . Inclusion would have left Spain open to a range of “retaliatory options” but already the US was working with the incoming government to reach its goals.

United States government interference in Spain’s intellectual property laws had long been suspected, but it was revelations from Wikileaks that finally confirmed the depth of its involvement.

More than 100 leaked cables showed that the US had helped draft new Spanish copyright legislation and had heavily influenced the decisions of both the government and opposition.

Now, another diplomatic leak has revealed how the US voiced its anger towards outgoing President Jose Luis Rodriguez Zapatero last month upon realizing that his government was unlikely to pass the US-drafted Sinde (site blocking) Law before leaving office.close quote (Read more)

Assange: ‘iPhone, BlackBerry, Gmail users – you’re all screwed’

open quoteSurveillance companies can use your iPhone to take photos of you and your surroundings without your knowledge, said a representative from the Bureau of Investigative Journalism at a panel chaired by Julian Assangeâ„¢ today.

Companies also sell products that will let them change the messages you write, track your location and nick your email contacts, claimed speakers on the panel that included representatives from Privacy International and the aforementioned bureau.

The privacy campaigners, speaking in London, pulled out some of the most sensational revelations in the 287 documents about the international surveillance industry published today by WikiLeaks (but you read it here first). The documents cover a total of 160 companies in 25 countries.

“Who here has an iPhone, who has a BlackBerry, who uses Gmail?” Assange asked. “Well you’re all screwed,” he continued, “the reality is that intelligence operations are selling right now mass surveillance systems for all those products”.close quote

23-year-old British University student faces up to 10 years in a US federal prison for posting links to videos

open quoteThe website did not itself host unlawful downloads or video streams, but acted as a directory of links to others that did, Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard.

American authorities allege that Mr O’Dwyer made more than $230,000 by selling advertising on TVShack in three years until December 2010.

District Judge Quentin Purdy rejected all three of the defence’s arguments against extradition, including claims Mr O’Dwyer would not get a fair trial in the United States and that if a crime was committed he should be prosecuted in Britain. close quote (Read more)