We’ve lived so long under the spell of hierarchy—from god-kings to feudal lords to party bosses—that only recently have we awakened to see not only that “regular” citizens have the capacity for self-governance, but that without their engagement our huge global crises cannot be addressed. The changes needed for human society simply to survive, let alone thrive, are so profound that the only way we will move toward them is if we ourselves, regular citizens, feel meaningful ownership of solutions through direct engagement. Our problems are too big, interrelated, and pervasive to yield to directives from on high.
—Frances Moore Lappé, excerpt from Time for Progressives to Grow Up

Tuesday, October 25, 2011

Will Congress Kill Youtube and Twitter to Please the 1%?

Click here to access article by David Swanson from War Is a Crime. 

Using a typical Orwellian bill entitled, "Protect IP Act", Congress is poised to pass a bill that...
...creates new legal liabilities for sites like Twitter, YouTube, and others that rely on user-generated content -- exposing the sites' proprietors to prosecution for certain acts taken by their users.
This, of course, would cause these internet services to act as policeman over content that might incur the wrath of the ruling class. As it becomes clear that an unintended consequence of the creation of internet-access gadgets and services is to enable activists to organize and collaborate better, we can expect more such attacks in the future.