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		<title>Net freedom or net profit?</title>
		<description>Discuss Net freedom or net profit?</description>
		<link>http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/opinion/15442-net-freedom-or-net-profit-sopa-pipa</link>
		<lastBuildDate>Wed, 19 Jun 2013 20:16:22 +0000</lastBuildDate>
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			<title>RE: Net freedom or net profit?</title>
			<link>http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/opinion/15442-net-freedom-or-net-profit-sopa-pipa#comment-3934</link>
			<description><![CDATA[Interesting stuff, this is also interesting on the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement... "If SOPA was an aircraft carrier, ACTA and TPP are nuclear submarines" http://memeburn.com/2012/02/if-sopa-was-an-aircraft-carrier-acta-and-tpp-are-nuclear-submarines/]]></description>
			<dc:creator>Tansy Hoskins</dc:creator>
			<pubDate>Thu, 02 Feb 2012 10:28:20 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/opinion/15442-net-freedom-or-net-profit-sopa-pipa#comment-3934</guid>
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			<title>RE: Net freedom or net profit?</title>
			<link>http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/opinion/15442-net-freedom-or-net-profit-sopa-pipa#comment-3906</link>
			<description><![CDATA[The battle over the freedom of expression has implications beyond the ability of print without being hampered by agents of the state. The line between word and deed is a thin one and the fight for the freedom of expression is in the realm of virtual reality. Censorship of information hampers the potential for development. The current US governments attempts to censor and block domains under their SOPA and Protect IP Act is not really about protecting copy right and intellectual property, after all there is software out there that can protect against copying and file sharing. It is however, about censorship of thought. If we can’t express it, share it or develop it then it is lost. It is no coincidence that Press TV has been removed from SKY by Ofcom, that the Levison enquiry is delving into media ethics (which has always been an oxymoron at best) in an attempt to demonise a source of information and the US actively protecting copy right all at the same time. What this is really all about is the bigger picture. A picture where a mass collective thought, on a global scale, cannot develop any longer and continue to produce the revolutions that started in North Africa last year and are continuing around the planet. This is the start of an attack on our freedom as individuals to express our thoughts through our networks. This is a classic example of crime mystification by the powerful as suggested by the Marxist criminologist Steven Box in 1978.]]></description>
			<dc:creator>Anita de Klerk</dc:creator>
			<pubDate>Tue, 24 Jan 2012 21:37:56 +0000</pubDate>
			<guid>http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/opinion/15442-net-freedom-or-net-profit-sopa-pipa#comment-3906</guid>
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			<title>RE: Net freedom or net profit?</title>
			<link>http://www.counterfire.org/index.php/articles/opinion/15442-net-freedom-or-net-profit-sopa-pipa#comment-3897</link>
			<description><![CDATA[first off I was about to start writing an article about SOPA when I read this, I didn't expect this to be something counterfire would cover, nice to see it up here. however this isn't as simple as entertainment industry vs filesharing, or limiting freedom to make money vs defending freedom to make money. this is about access to information, if a site can be blocked because even one of its user's infringed someone's copyright then that is an attack on everyone who is trying to access the information that is contained on that site. think about this, youtube is effectively the second largest search engine on the web, if I were to upload copyrighted material (and I have), that would, under SOPA, qualify youtube for a DNS takedown. user content sites would all employ much stricter censorship rules to avoid that happening, so this doesn't just affect blatent copyright infringement, this affects potential copyright infringement. assuming DNS takedowns did occur we would lose access to videos being uploaded from flashpoints around the world. all those videos we shared during the Arab spring...no. youtube would be blocked. everything on it would be inaccessible. Even if only for a short time but that can still make all the difference in getting the word out. another thing to consider, and in fact trumpet from the rooftops, is that file-sharing (piracy if it costs you money) is an incredibly effective way of spreading information. it's efficient and it's almost always free. The torrent index sites, the piratebay's, are the industry's enemy number one. These are not financially intensive operations. most are maintained by either donations or dodgy porn ads. most are run as amateur projects, by small groups of like-minded nerds. File-sharing is what the internet was built to do, it is a breakthrough in the cause of wider and deeper education for all. Obama has refused to support SOPA (no idea where he stands on PIPA, SOPA's companion bill) most likely because he's got an election on the horizon and is well aware that if SOPA is eventually passed it will lead to millions of Americans experiencing oppression through censorship, at the demand of corporate interests, in their everyday lives. it won't be an issue of principle, it won't be something he can talk away by referring to founding fathers and the spirit of enterprise etc... that is basically a full article now so I'm leaving it at that. But there's probably some lessons for counterfire learn from how people see SOPA, Avaaz has almost got 1.5 million signatures on a petition that was only posted earlier today.]]></description>
			<dc:creator>Fred</dc:creator>
			<pubDate>Wed, 18 Jan 2012 23:11:38 +0000</pubDate>
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