the zombies are coming again
Jul. 4th, 2013 09:16 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
miriam_eThe latest wave of zombie attacks:
Secret negotiations are underway as the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) to extend copyright, worsening the inversion of copyright's original intent and aimed at fatally damaging the internet. The reach of this is global, not just in USA. The arrogance and malevolence of the industry groups involved is bone-chilling.
The Electronic Freedom Foundation call it the "Biggest Global Threat to the Internet Since ACTA".
Don't let the zombies eat your brains.
If you live outside USA:
http://stopthetrap.net/
If you live in USA:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/04/tpp-biggest-global-threat-internet-acta
Please don't shrug and think you can leave it up to others. That's what the zombies are counting on. They keep mounting these attacks. They are tireless. They are not alive. They are corporations. They are by definition the walking dead. They are expecting that sooner or later we will become bored or distracted and they will crash through and then it will be curtains as they impose rules which will be impossible or almost impossible to change... ever. They will gut the internet.
The mainstream media see the internet as the cause of their falling audience. In a way they are correct. People are turning away from the mainstream media (radio, newspapers, TV) in greater numbers, but it is not because the internet exists, it is because the mainstream media serve up such garbage. If these people get to control the internet, guess what will happen to it? YouTube, blogs, even facebook will face major problems because one of the first things they will do is try to kill all those off. How? Easy. Just make a law that service providers can be sued for content placed on them by other people. But that isn't the only weapon they have to break the internet. And if they get the chance they will break it. They think the mainstream media will somehow regain audience if they succeed.
The folks at Project Gutenberg are acutely aware of the danger of TPP eating into the public domain. Project Gutenberg's whole reason is to make the public domain available to us all for free. They had this to say in their most recent newsletter:
Secret negotiations are underway as the Trans-Pacific Partnership agreement (TPP) to extend copyright, worsening the inversion of copyright's original intent and aimed at fatally damaging the internet. The reach of this is global, not just in USA. The arrogance and malevolence of the industry groups involved is bone-chilling.
The Electronic Freedom Foundation call it the "Biggest Global Threat to the Internet Since ACTA".
Don't let the zombies eat your brains.
If you live outside USA:
http://stopthetrap.net/
If you live in USA:
https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2013/04/tpp-biggest-global-threat-internet-acta
Please don't shrug and think you can leave it up to others. That's what the zombies are counting on. They keep mounting these attacks. They are tireless. They are not alive. They are corporations. They are by definition the walking dead. They are expecting that sooner or later we will become bored or distracted and they will crash through and then it will be curtains as they impose rules which will be impossible or almost impossible to change... ever. They will gut the internet.
The mainstream media see the internet as the cause of their falling audience. In a way they are correct. People are turning away from the mainstream media (radio, newspapers, TV) in greater numbers, but it is not because the internet exists, it is because the mainstream media serve up such garbage. If these people get to control the internet, guess what will happen to it? YouTube, blogs, even facebook will face major problems because one of the first things they will do is try to kill all those off. How? Easy. Just make a law that service providers can be sued for content placed on them by other people. But that isn't the only weapon they have to break the internet. And if they get the chance they will break it. They think the mainstream media will somehow regain audience if they succeed.
The folks at Project Gutenberg are acutely aware of the danger of TPP eating into the public domain. Project Gutenberg's whole reason is to make the public domain available to us all for free. They had this to say in their most recent newsletter:
How to take even more effective action in very little time
The petitions are excellent, but do not focus on copyright terms, which are of special interest to supporters of Project Gutenberg. But it's easy to do just a little bit more: this "little bit" can actually be enormously effective. Remember how the one-day Wikipedia blackout and individual phone calls and emails completely stopped a government attack on the rights of internet users. Individual actions count.
In the United States, simply write and/or call your Member of Congress and Senator telling them that for the United States to use the TPP to extend copyright durations is an attack on the rights of the citizens of other countries, and in complete conflict with the principles of equity and respect for others upon which the United States was founded. And tell them that Congress's 1998 20-year copyright extension was an illegitimate confiscation of the public domain, and should be repealed immediately, rather than exported to other countries.
In Canada and New Zealand, contact your Member of Parliament to say that they must not allow copyright extensions to be forced on your country by a secret international treaty. In other TPP countries (such as Australia and Mexico), tell your elected representatives that copyright terms should be as short as possible, and should never be dictated by foreign governments and corporations.
This is a battle that we can win!