We’ve seen YouTube hosted debates in the past. Politicians use Twitter and social media all the time to promote their campaigns or ballot fights. But Monday night marked a new digital landmark when President Obama held the first all-digital interview from the White House. The video chat was conducted via a Google+ hangout, perhaps the most [...]
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The fight for an open and free internet is taking place on many different fronts across the globe. In Europe, the latest battle took place in the Court of the Hague. Anti-piracy group BREIN won its case against two of the largest ISPs in the Netherlands – Ziggo and its smaller competitor, XS4ALL – forcing [...]
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by Erik Kain on January 28, 2012
So it turns out that many of the worst provisions in ACTA, once they saw the light of day, were scaled way back. Nate of Ars Technica writes: US Trade Representative Ron Kirk, whose office negotiated the US side of the deal, issued astatement this morning about the “tremendous progress in the fight against counterfeiting [...]
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by Erik Kain on January 26, 2012
David Thier takes issue with my piracy post, writing that my argument over the nature of most piracy is “nothing but economic apologism. It says that we’re allowed to steal because it doesn’t really matter. Because we didn’t like that song anyway, we just wanted to hear what it was all about. Because it’s all [...]
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by Erik Kain on January 25, 2012
SOPA, PIPA, ACTA – the four-letter acronyms of the various laws and trade agreements aimed at cracking down on internet piracy have been swirling about the internet lately. More often than not these regulations have been crafted behind closed doors, leading to discussions about each that are too murky and confusing by half. Hyperbole abounds, often magnifying [...]
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by Erik Kain on January 23, 2012
Updated below. When sites like Wikipedia and Reddit banded together for a major blackout January 18th, the impact was felt all the way to D.C. The blackout had lawmakers running from the controversial anti-piracy legislation, SOPA and PIPA, which critics said threatened freedom of speech online. Unfortunately for free-speech advocates, these pieces of legislation are [...]
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Now that SOPA has been shelved, the Entertainment Software Association has dropped its support of the bill. Not long ago the video game lobbying group remained staunch supporters of both SOPA and PIPA. Piracy, they claimed, was hurting the booming video game industry. The political winds have shifted, and industry groups and politicians alike are [...]
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Julian Sanchez has an excellent piece in Ars Technica which takes a look at the claim that content creators are being discouraged from creative pursuits due to online piracy – a claim that has fueled the recently stalled anti-piracy legislation in congress. Whether SOPA and PIPA would have actually worked is an open question, but [...]
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This is via ProPublica, and it’s a wonder to behold: It’s not a done deal yet, of course, but opponents of SOPA and PIPA at least have the momentum at this point. This may be the first time we’ve seen the power of online grassroots activism combined with beneficent tech corporations but it won’t be [...]
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by Erik Kain on January 20, 2012
An internet blackout and protests online and in person helped grind anti-piracy legislation to a halt in congress. But the fight isn’t over yet. Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid (D-NV) called off a vote on the controversial Protect IP Act (PIPA) after Wednesday’s internet blackout and statements from the president indicating that more discussion was [...]
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E.D. Kain is a blogger and freelance writer. Currently he serves as Editor-in-Chief of The League of Ordinary Gentlemen and writes a policy blog at Forbes. He can be found occasionally composing 140 character cultural analysis on Twitter. His writing has appeared in The Atlantic, The National Review, The Washington Examiner, and the now-defunct True/Slant.
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