what will happen this year

[Wildcard]

I don't to beat this to death, but I am somewhat of a zealot when it comes to maintaining a free internet.

what I meant is that I can still access google.com.au as a search engine even if for some reason google.com is shut down.

Not true.

The administration of Australia’s Internet domain name space has recently been transferred to auDA, the Australian Domain Name Authority Ltd. Until the transfer, Robert Elz was the administrator of the .au name space. Now this would seem to indicate that .au would be exempt from US laws, but despite its contract with ICANN to administer the domain name system, the United States Department of Commerce even now retains policy control over the root domain.

This means that .au will be affected just as .com .org and all of the other 11 root name servers throughout the world.

This is why it is so important that even those outside the US protest this preposterous law.

Sources:
http://www.ilaw.com.au/dnsarticle.pdf
A Michael Froomkin - "Wrong Turn in Cyberspace: Using ICANN to Route Around the APA and the Constitution" (1999)

[Leanne]

.au is listed by IANA as a top-level domain name, but I'm sure that since America thinks it controls every fucking thing in the universe you're correct about the threat -- surely if this were such a big deal, it wouldn't be a massive drama for countries to set up their own authorities as they had in the past, or for a global US-interference-free organisation to spring up somewhere. The lesson here is, of course, that whenever the US accuses Russia or China or any other nasty red country of doing it's only to ensure that nobody notices the US is doing it as well.

Anyway, there's a good chance that nerds being nerds, any attempts by governments/corporations/corporation-owned-governments to censor freedom of speech and information will end in a massive middle finger right up their legislative assembly. Perhaps this is the year that Americans shake off their collective apathy and get a proper revolution going.

[Wildcard]

Perhaps this is the year that Americans shake off their collective apathy and get a proper revolution going.

Perhaps, but even though this is definitely an American initiated problem, I don't think we should carry all the burden on our shoulders. The American people are definitely apathetic, but it's mainly because we are so optimistic. People like me are running in circles trying to stir citizens of the world up about these tyrannical laws that are being eased through Congress, but we are fighting a losing battle.

Why do I feel that the world(and not just Americans) are responsible for the much needed revolution? Because we will all be affected . . . that's it. I have no other reasoning. America has gained power over the world through its affiliation with the UN and the favors we have done for other countries, but that didn't happen because our government is just that smart . . . it's about corruption worldwide. Think about it. How did an American company come to control the entire Internet(an American invention by the way)??? We did it because no other country felt the need to step up to the plate. Apathy is worldwide, Leanne. Not just in America.

[Leanne]

I don't think you could call the citizens of Egypt, or Syria, or Libya apathetic. Apathy isn't exactly rampant in Ireland either. Or most of Europe, at least now they've had their major wake-up call. Political systems throughout the world are corrupt, and at least now people are waking up to the fact that we don't have to be taken advantage of by large corporations or large corporation-owned-governments. Democracy may have become one of the greatest illusions of all time, but it has its roots in the votes of the people -- my vote is worth just as much as Rupert Murdoch's used to be before he defected to the US to make more money. Too many people shrug and say "they're all as bad as one another", but whilever that attitude prevails it's giving "them" the perfect excuse to be depraved, self-serving and greedy. It really is time for everyone, in every country, to stop blaming "the system" and start voting for people with principles. I know they exist, we just don't let them win because we're all stupid enough to be fooled by flashy campaigns and the idea that anyone who has a "nasty secret" isn't worthy of running the country.

I say, anyone who doesn't have a nasty secret isn't worth voting for, because they've lived their entire lives as plastic people.

[Wildcard]

I can't disagree with anything you've said. The problem with voting in America is that it doesn't make a difference.

A) Our candidates are limited to those two main parties, and then one or (if we're lucky) two independents. The independents are generally so unacceptable that they serve only to pull votes away from the less popular of the two main party candidates. There has never been an election for president in which the independent party has been elected. Past independents of note <---and I use that very loosely: Jesse Jackson, Ross Perot and Ron Paul (all idiots imo)

B) because of the electoral college votes, only those states with a large number of votes can actually swing an election. So in 'red' states like mine, no one in the national picture gives a damn who Alabamians vote for and

C)It's all a big scam. Take the 'hanging' chad issue in Bush's first election. I'm actually very glad that Al Gore did not win, but not because Bush is any better, but because he is a massive idiot- and therein lies the problem: Americans vote(when they do vote) for charismatic candidates(Reagan, Kennedy, Clinton) and not for well-qualified candidates . . .

[Erthona]

A point your missing is that the American legislation is actually an extension of the large corporations desire to maintain control over their product so that they make as much money out of it as possible. So it is not just the power of the US government one is fighting, but the combined clout of the major corporation in the world. So you think for one second that large corporations will not support their fellows in industry? Sony, a Asian corporation run by a Mexican, was completely eager to comply with hardware and software implantation into their devices that made copying more difficult. Why? Because there is a symbiotic relationship between them.

It is unfortunate they cannot see what Leanne has pointed out, which is, people who have the money to sped will generally go out and buy the product because they want the full experience that comes with the case, such as the art and the liner notes, and it is convenient and safe. The people who don't have this ideology are generally the ones who don't have the money to buy it anyway. Plus most artist get their money from concerts, not record sales.

Of course the whole thing is absurd, as copyright (which everyone seems to forget) only applied to someone making money from the product. E.g., you can show a movie to all your friends for free without copyright violation, unless you are charging them 5 quid a head to come in. It never was applied to copying or even distribution if not money was involved. So this is about a whole new application of copyright law, onethat did not even exist until recently.

I still predict

2 bushels and a peck

Dale

[Leanne]

Of course the whole thing is absurd, as copyright (which everyone seems to forget) only applied to someone making money from the product. E.g., you can show a movie to all your friends for free without copyright violation, unless you are charging them 5 quid a head to come in. It never was applied to copying or even distribution if not money was involved. So this is about a whole new application of copyright law, onethat did not even exist until recently.

Exactly. The only legal recourse you have for copyright breach is to demand compensation based on the income derived from said breach -- if the income is zero, there's no harm or foul. It would be very interesting to hear what the World Court would think of any lawsuits arising from this legislation.

[Wildcard]

But these greedy bastards are demanding compensation from lost record sales . . . sales that they never lost to begin with. And some people simply can't buy things that they can download . . . I have a friend overseas that lives in a place where it is illegal to purchase pornography. So the titles he downloads are definitely not examples of lost sales because he would have to travel to another country to buy them and he is not capable economically of doing that.

[Erthona]

Yes, it is like many statics that are thrown out as buttresses of truth.

Pick a number!

[srijantje]

Move out of the way Dale! Can't you see I've just been moderated :p

This year holds some very interesting legislation. It's all American but SOPA will effect the entire Internet and thus the world. If this bill is passed then information sharing in general will be limited and censored and the net will never be the same.

The other bill I'm worried about is NDAA which is like an extended Patriot act whereby American citizens can be held indefinitely on no charge at all if they are suspected of terrorism
So what do I think will happen this year? I think the world will go to shit and Leanne will give me some

can't agree more

[Erthona]

Yeah, they moderated the hillbillying line, but let the shit leak through, although I thought she gave shit to everyone!

[addy]

Last I heard, hearings on SOPA had to be suspended because they needed more experts. Translation: there were many guys at congress who didn't have a clue how the internet worked, but were happy to pass misguided legislation on it anyway (in fact there was even debate on whether they should call in expert "nerds" at all). Good lord.

[srijantje]

I'm sure they'll pass some slightly moderated version in the end,it's all politics,no knowledge required

[billy]

Not really, Mark -- you see, Kraft Foods Australia is subject to Australian business and operating laws, not American, regardless of it being an American corporation. The US can only control (or seek to control) entities that are physically located within its borders. It is possible, however, that Big Brother can in some way restrict access for Americans to sites that allow them to circumvent these draconian laws -- but they can frankly fuck right off when it comes to my country. We've got enough censorship crap of our own to deal with.

we just had a kid taken to an english court in order to be extradited to the usa, for a crime that wasn't recognised by the uk. the uk didn't close his site down, the usa did. he streamed tv etc and gave links to other sites. the big question is;
what right did the usa have to close a british site, and what right do the usa have to extradite a british citizen who hasn't committed a terrorist act or left the british isles.

according to our stupid laws the usa have every right to close down something that is in all sense on someone elses sovereign soil.
the usa has more power than i thought would be possible.

i hope to see such powers curtailed in the coming year. it's just wishful thinking though.

as a ps.
australia dictated how slaughterhouses should operate in another country and got what they they wanted. power is in the buck. should the close down Kraft usa because of an australian infringement Kraft auz would probably try and sort something out.

murdock had his head office registered in the usa and as could face charges for screwing up in the uk or any other country he works out of, including auz. they're effin insidious.

[Wildcard]

Billy, it's good to see people taking this seriously. A lot of my friends from other countries sneeze at the power of the US to pass and enforce dubious legislation. If left unchecked, America will (as they have in the past) run rough-shod over the world. This nonsense must be stopped.

[billy]

i know we're going off topic a bit but i'm okay with it if others are.

i think the usa has got to the point where it refuses t let go of the idea that we're now a global community and as such they do not control the world.
i know it more or less controls the net but that shoud only be to make sure that it runs. the laws of it should be administered in each country.

[srijantje]

power comes from the barrel of a gun,end of story

the usa has contingency plans to invade holland if there is ever a usa citizen put on trial at the int.court of law,i'm not kidding,it's no conspiracy theory

they measure with 2 so hugely different sticks,it's frightening

[Leanne]

It must really piss them off that The Hague isn't in New York.

[srijantje]

the court is only a tool to punish enemies of the western world

[Leanne]

And when The Western World is the enemy of the western world?