Statist loses election but wants to be Secretary of State

Howard Berman

The good news: Congressman Howard Berman -- one of the lead supporters of SOPA -- lost his re-election bid last week. The bad news: The Los Angeles Times is reporting that Berman is being considered as the replacement for Hillary Clinton when she steps down as Secretary of State in coming weeks. That would mean that he'd play a key role in developing global Internet policy! Please add your name at right to tell President Obama and the Senate that Berman has no place being considered for Secretary of State. Berman has spent decades representing Southern California, and has been one of the biggest shills for Hollywood and other forces that seek to censor the Internet: He was one of the original sponsors of SOPA, and unlike so many others who had the sense to wiithdraw their support after the Internet cried out, Berman has never backed down. But now the LA Times reports:

Berman, who has been chairman and ranking member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, is among those now mentioned by U.S. officials as a possible replacement for Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton when she departs next year.

If the United States really cares about global Internet freedom, there couldn't be a worse pick for Secretary of State than Berman, who's repeatedly tried to censor the web at Hollywood's behest -- and Hollywood's been leading a global charge to clamp down on Internet freedom. Let's put Obama and the Senate on notice.

Source:click here to sign petition.

Last week we got rid of this statist asshole through democratic means but we could end up stuck with him if we don't let Obama and our senators know that we don't want him. If he is a big SOPA supporter I don't want him anywhere near the controls for the internet. If he is so big with the Hollywood crowd then they can give him a job in the private sector so that way he can leave the rest of us alone.

The Supreme Court will decide if you own the property you purchased

ACT NOW: DON'T LET BIG BUSINESS STEAL OUR RIGHT TO RESELL WHAT WE OWN!

Next week, the U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether you have the right to sell your stuff on eBay. Do you really own the smartphone or computer you’re using to read this? If you sold your books, would you be breaking the law? A federal court in New York says you would be, even if you legally paid for and bought them.

It's unbelievable, but trademark and copyright holders are trying to use a legal loophole to take away your right to sell things that you own. The mainstream media is starting to catch on, with the Wall Street Journal just running an article headlined, "YOUR RIGHT TO RESELL YOUR OWN STUFF IS IN PERIL". Please add your name at right to fight back.

Public interest advocates are taking the case all the way to the Supreme Court, and Demand Progress is joining up with a coalition of groups -- including many of those that came together to kill SOPA -- to support the rights of ordinary Internet users and everyday consumers.

Once again, big entertainment company lobbyists are fighting us in the courts to ensure their profits are given higher priority than consumer rights. But this time the MPAA and RIAA have the Obama administration on their side -- they've all filed legal briefs asking the Supreme Court to restrict our right to resell the things we own..

We only have a few weeks to make our voices heard before the Supreme Court makes a lasting ruling. We are working to defend a long-standing principle known as the "First-Sale Doctrine." This common-sense rule gives us the right to sell most property we own, but big businesses have been trying to chip away at out our rights in the courts. If the Supreme Court supports the lower court’s decision, we won't really “own” anything if any part of it was made in a different country. And practically anything you own -- from your iPod to your house -- could have been made abroad, in whole or in part.

If we lose this fight, practically anybody who wants to resell products they bought -- from Macbooks and iPhones to our clothing and textbooks -- will have to ask copyright holders for permission first. And they'll have the right to deny it!

It's bad for so many reasons: It'll undermine Craigslist and Ebay, hurt the environment, increase incentives for manufacturers to move jobs off-shore, and effectively ban the traditional American yard sale. For more info, please check out Marvin Ammori's article about the lawsuit.

To sign the petition:click here

If you believe that since you bought it you own it and it is yours to keep,give or throw away then sign this petition. Don't let the corporations run your life sign the petition today.

You paid for it,maintained it but you may not be the legal owner

From Demand Progress:

You've Been Owned: Tell Obama To Stop Siding With Copyright Trolls

We need your help: Once again, the film studios and record companies that tried to censor the Internet are up to no good. The same business lobbyists who backed SOPA are trying to stop you from reselling most of the things that you own -- and President Obama has taken their side.

Arguments before the Supreme Court take place later this month: Please add your name at right to tell Obama to stand with consumers and Internet users.

A few months ago Demand Progress -- joined by over 100,000 Internet users and a coalition of public interest groups -- asked President Obama to take action and protect consumers' rights to resell their own things. The Supreme Court is currently hearing a case (Kirstaeng v. Wiley) that will decide whether you have the right to sell your iPod, books, and other goods on eBay and Craigslist -- or even at your own yard sale.

But the entertainment industry lobbyists at the MPAA and RIAA have filed a brief in the Supreme Court mocking consumers' concerns -- just like they did during the SOPA Fight. These special interests admit that they want the Supreme Court to decide against the interests of ordinary Americans and protect the music and film industries' "ability to control entry into distinct markets."

You heard that right -- Hollywood thinks that controlling their CD and DVD markets is more important than consumer rights.

Amazingly, the Obama administration agrees and has rejected the pleas of thousands of ordinary consumers: The White House's solicitor general filed a legal brief rejecting our arguments and allowing big businesses to sue people for reselling their things online.

To sign the petition:click here

Obama is going out of his way to insure he is,like Bush Sr.,a one term president. Whenever the people favor something these two shoot it down. Now they do so at their own expense.

U.S. Government persecutes U.K. subject

Join Wikipedia Founder Jimmy Wales: Protect Internet Freedom And Seek Justice for Richard O'Dwyer

Hi, I am Jimmy Wales, founder of Wikipedia, and if you care about justice and the future of Internet freedom, Demand Progress and I need your help. This will only take a few seconds, but you can really help us change things for the better.

Richard O'Dwyer is a 24 year old British student at Sheffield Hallam University in the UK. He is facing extradition to the USA and up to ten years in prison, for creating a website - TVShack.net – which linked (similarly to a search-engine) to places to watch TV and movies online.

O'Dwyer is not a US citizen, he's lived in the UK all his life, his site was not hosted there, and most of his users were not from the US. America is trying to prosecute a UK citizen for an alleged crime which took place on UK soil.

The Internet as a whole must not tolerate censorship in response to mere allegations of copyright infringement. As citizens we must stand up for our rights online.

Please sign on at right here to join me in demanding that British authorities refuse to extradite O'Dwyer, and that US officials cease persecuting him.

When operating his site, Richard O'Dwyer always did his best to play by the rules: on the few occasions he received requests to remove content from copyright holders, he complied. His site hosted links, not copyrighted content, and these were submitted by users.

Copyright is an important institution, serving a beneficial moral and economic purpose. But that does not mean that copyright can or should be unlimited. It does not mean that we should abandon time-honored moral and legal principles to allow endless encroachments on our civil liberties in the interests of the moguls of Hollywood.

Richard O'Dwyer is the human face of the battle between the content industry and the interests of the general public. Earlier this year, in the fight against SOPA and PIPA, the public won its first big victory. This could be our second.

This is why I am petitioning the UK's Home Secretary Theresa May to stop the extradition of Richard O'Dwyer, and asking the United States to end his prosecution. I hope you will join me.

- Jimmy Wales, Wikipedia founder

Source:click here

I'm not a big wikipedia fan so you should know that I would rather let the blind master from Kung Fu shave my pubes with a straight razor in a pitch black room than be on the same page as wikipedia. If it was staff at wikipedia getting fucked I would have no problem but in this case it appears that the U.S. Government is overstepping its bounds. This is the same government that doesn't do shit in the middle east,ignores Pro-American sentiment amongst the Iranian youth yet they can persecute some guy running a tv guide style website. This is rediculous and the U.S. government should just hang it up on this one. If you feel the same way sign the petition.