Urgent Web Alert: Join the Battle for Net Neutrality!!!

Cable companies want to slow down (and break!) your favorite site, for profit.

 To fight back, let's cover the web with symbolic "loading" icons, to remind everyone what an Internet without net neutrality would look like, and drive record numbers of emails and calls to lawmakers. 

Are you in? Please click on the Battle For The Net image above. 

Web Alert: Urgent: Save Net Neutrality from Verizon, ATT&T and Comcast.

Verizon struck a mortal blow against Net Neutrality by persuading a federal judge to throw out the Federal Communication Commission’s Open Internet Order.

And now FCC Chair Tom Wheeler faces a choice -- he can stand up for Net Neutrality or help Verizon kill it for good. The fate of the open Internet rests on this choice.

Over a million of us asked him to implement strong new Net Neutrality rules that will both pass legal muster and ensure Americans have access to a free and open Internet.

But instead Wheeler recently proposed a new set of rules that will put the final nail in the coffin for Net Neutrality. This is wrong.

We only have until the May 15 FCC meeting to push back hard enough to get Wheeler to change course.

Tell Chairman Wheeler: Don't help Verizon kill Net Neutrality.

Net Neutrality is a principle that says that Internet users, not Internet service providers (ISPs), should be in control. It ensures that Internet service providers can’t speed up, slow down, or block web content based on its source, ownership, or destination.

Net Neutrality is dead for the time being – but the FCC could stand up to Verizon and AT&T and pass strong rules.

Instead, Wheeler's proposed rules would divide the Internet into fast lanes for wealthy corporations and slow lanes for the rest of us. Internet service providers (ISPs) would be allowed to relegate content to the slow lane unless the content provider paid up.

That means that the speed you could stream a video, for example, would not just depend on the kind of Internet plan you purchase from your ISP. It would also heavily depend upon whether the entity hosting the video paid for the express lane so that it didn’t take forever to download. Not only is this anti-consumer, allowing corporations to decide what kind of content you can access on the Internet is fundamentally anti-democratic.

Sign the petition telling Chairman Wheeler: Don’t help Verizon kill Net Neutrality.

Back in 2010, this latest court decision was utterly predictable. A federal court had already ruled that unless the FCC reversed the Bush-era decision to deregulate broadband, the FCC couldn’t enforce Net Neutrality rules. Then FCC Chair Genachowski tested the waters with a proposal to re-regulate (or in the jargon of the FCC “reclassify”) broadband. Genachowski himself said that, according to the FCC General Counsel, pushing ahead with policies without reregulating broadband would be unwise given the tenuous legal footing the FCC would find itself in.

But the Obama administration's support for Net Neutrality was so weak that his FCC declined to reclassify broadband as a prerequisite to passing Net Neutrality rules. Without providing this legal framework, the Open Internet Order was never anything more than a cynical ploy by Democrats to claim a victory on Net Neutrality while actually caving on real protections for consumers.

New FCC Chair Tom Wheeler has a chance to change this. He recently made a strong statement in support of Net Neutrality and the necessary legal framework to defend it, saying that “it is essential that the FCC continue to maintain an open Internet and maintain the legal ability to intervene promptly and effectively in the event of aggravated circumstances."

Now we need to hold him to it. If he wants to ensure the FCC maintains an open Internet, he needs to do far better than proposals that will allow for the corporate takeover of the Internet.

We need him to muster the political will to take action immediately and save Net Neutrality by reversing the deregulation of broadband and giving teeth to the FCC’s ability to enforce Net Neutrality rules and force Internet service providers to treat all traffic equally.

Tell FCC Chairman Tom Wheeler: Stop the corporate takeover of the Internet and save Net Neutrality.

http://act.credoaction.com/sign/verizon_netneutrality/?sp_ref=40236875.4.2081.t.0.2&referring_akid=.2234400.8sYReT&source=tw_sp

Web Alert: Stop President Obama Surrender the Internet.

Hi my Cyber Zombies,

I received an email form Liberty Counsel Action that President Obama want to surrender the internet.

Grace,

 

The administration’s plans to surrender Internet oversight is yet another of President Obama’s misguided actions that will further undermine the United States’ power and influence in the world. 

 

According to several experts, this give-away will suppress the free flow of information necessary to today’s global economy, oppress religious expression, and invite extreme censorship in the world’s portal of information. 

 

Liberty Counsel Action strongly contests turning over Internet governance to world communities and leaders who may intend to do us harm! 

 

We are aggressively urging congressional action to ensure that our oversight of the Internet is NOT ceded to the international community.

The Issue:

The Obama administration is surrendering key functions of the United States’ oversight of the Internet in 2015 to unnamed members of the international community. This new "control group" may be comprised of enemies of our nation, enemies of liberty, and/or radicals who oppose our freedom of speech and freedom of the press.

If the United States gives up control of the Internet’s administration, international censorship or a worldwide shutdown in a time of crisis will become a very real possibility.

This action underscores President Barack Obama’s ongoing subversion of the United States’ role on the world stage. 

Here is the link to the petition below.

http://www.lcaction.cc/682/petition.asp?Ref_ID=25789&CID=682&RID=41594883

Mathew Staver, Chairman

Liberty Counsel Action

WebAlert: Tell Lawmakers: They Should Need a Warrant to Read My Email

Hi My Cyber Zombies,

Today I got email from ACLU Action Desk:

Hi Grace,

The rules protecting our privacy online are seriously out of date. 

The Electronic Communications Privacy Act (ECPA) was passed in 1986 and hasn't been substantially updated since. That was back when Top Gun was in the movie theaters, mobile phones were the size of bricks, and email was in its infancy. 

While the NSA’s dragnet surveillance program has been in the spotlight recently, it’s not just their spying efforts that we need to be concerned with. 

The FBI, IRS, state and local law enforcement, and countless other government agencies are using outrageous loopholes in ECPA to read our emails, text messages, and other private electronic communications without a warrant. 

But as digital privacy has been getting headlines, we’ve been mobilizing with our allies. In Congress, Representatives Kevin Yoder (R-KS), Tom Graves (R-GA), and Jared Polis (D-CO) have introduced bipartisan legislation called the Email Privacy Act to update ECPA and restore the full protections of the Fourth Amendment to our digital communications. 

The bill just gained its 181st co-sponsor in the House of Representatives, and our lobbyists in Washington say that our best shot at ensuring this bill gets by opponents in the House is if we can push that number to 218. 

With the disclosures by Edward Snowden of the NSA’s massive surveillance dragnet, the country’s attention has rightfully turned to protecting our private information. 

We’ve seen a lot of momentum behind reforming our out-of-date protections for digital privacy. The Email Privacy Act would take a tremendous leap forward and prevent local and federal law enforcement from using a nearly 30-year-old law to circumvent the Fourth Amendment. 

Thanks for taking action,

Anthony for ACLU Action

Web Alert: The Day We Fight Back Campaign

Hi My Cyber Zombies,

I am participating in "The Day We Fight Back" Campaign against NSA Mass Surveillance. "The Day We Fight Back" Campaign starting on February 11, 2014.

The objectives is:
-push back against power that seek to observe, collect, and analyze our every digital action.
-will make it clear that such behavior is not compatible.

3,891 Websites joined "The Day We Fight Back" Campaign.

Open Letter to Congress

Dear Members of Congress,
            We write to express our concern about recent reports published in the Guardian and the Washington Post, and acknowledged by the Obama Administration, which reveal secret spying by the National Security Agency (NSA) on phone records and Internet activity of people in the United States.

The Washington Post and the Guardian recently published reports based on information provided by an intelligence contractor showing how the NSA and the FBI are gaining broad access to data collected by nine of the leading U.S. Internet companies and sharing this information with foreign governments. As reported, the U.S. government is extracting audio, video, photographs, e-mails, documents, and connection logs that enable analysts to track a person's movements and contacts over time. As a result, the contents of communications of people both abroad and in the U.S. can be swept in without any suspicion of crime or association with a terrorist organization.
           
Leaked reports also published by the Guardian and confirmed by the Administration reveal that the NSA is also abusing a controversial section of the PATRIOT Act to collect the call records of millions of Verizon customers. The data collected by the NSA includes every call made, the time of the call, the duration of the call, and other "identifying information" for millions of Verizon customers, including entirely domestic calls, regardless of whether those customers have ever been suspected of a crime. The Wall Street Journal has reported that other major carriers, including AT&T and Sprint, are subject to similar secret orders.
           
This type of blanket data collection by the government strikes at bedrock American values of freedom and privacy. This dragnet surveillance violates the First and Fourth Amendments of the U.S. Constitution, which protect citizens' right to speak and associate anonymously, guard against unreasonable searches and seizures, and protect their right to privacy.
           
We are calling on Congress to take immediate action to halt this surveillance and provide a full public accounting of the NSA's and the FBI's data collection programs.

We call on Congress to immediately and publicly:
           
1. Enact reform this Congress to Section 215 of the USA
PATRIOT Act, the state secrets privilege, and the FISA Amendments Act to
 make clear that blanket surveillance of the Internet activity and phone
 records of any person residing in the U.S. is prohibited by law and
that violations can be reviewed in adversarial proceedings before a
public court.

2. Create a special committee to investigate, report, and
 reveal to the public the extent of this domestic spying. This committee
 should create specific recommendations for legal and regulatory reform
to end unconstitutional surveillance.

3. Hold accountable those public officials who are found to be responsible for this unconstitutional surveillance.
           
Thank you for your attention to this matter.
         

Web Alert: Restore the Fourth Amendment

Web Alert: CISPA Passed

WebAlert: CISPA is back!!!

Hi my Cyber Zombies,

It's Official!!! CIPSA is back!!! I got email from Tiffliniy Chung, who is part of Fight for the Future. Here is the email below:

We just got the official word that CISPA is back. 

CISPA would let corporations share all of your private, personal information with the government... with no restrictions. 

Last year the bill passed the House in a whirlwind, before any of us had time to mount a real opposition. We ended up stopping it in the Senate, but we can't make the same mistake twice! Congress needs to hear a strong, clear message from Internet users. Immediately. 

Click here to sign the petition to Stop CISPA!

This email, your love letters, your secrets and private conversations, your search and email history, what you say and do anywhere on the web.... All these things could become a part of a government file on you that everyone from the IRS to local police would have access to.

Sign the petition to Congress now. And forward this email to your friends, we all need to do everything we can to get the word out to stop this. 

Thank you for helping!

-- Tiffiniy 
Fight for the Future

Web Alert: FISA Amendment Act

EFF is going to court this month to try to stop the United States government from warrantlessly scooping up the Internet communications of millions of Americans. But even as we’re gearing up for the next court battle, Congress is poised to reauthorize the FISA Amendments Act, the 2008 law that allows the government to surveil the communications of Americans speaking with people overseas without warrants.

The FISA Amendments Act, a bill the EFF community fought against in 2008, is set to expire in just 2 weeks. This is the legislation that, for the first time, allowed warrantless surveillance of Americans, albeit only when they are communicating with foreign "targets." Some claim that this law is the basis for the government’s warrantless dragnet of all Americans, as a first step to “targeted" surveillance.

But to date, the government refuses to provide any details about how it is engaging in this American surveillance or how many Americans are actually impacted.

The nation was shocked when revelations about widespread surveillance were first unearthed more than 5 years ago, including President Bush’s admission he was violating a critical surveillance law to spy on selected Americans without warrants.

EFF has gathered and presented evidence that the actual spying was much broader, including millions of innocent Americans. EFF’s evidence includes schematics and photographs from inside AT&T’s San Francisco facilities where millions of Americans’ communications are being copied to the government. But rather than dismantle this illegal program, Congress gave at least part of it a sheen of legality by passing the FISA Amendments Act in 2008.

Portions of the FISA Amendments Act are set to expire on December 31, 2012. That means Congress has only a handful of working days to reauthorize this bill. They’re going to attempt to ram through a five-year extension with no debate and no reform— saddling us with five more years of unconstitutional surveillance and no public accountability or reporting about the Americans affected.

We need your help to stop this bill. Please join EFF in fighting for privacy by sending this note to Congress.

And please also tweet at Senate leadership to ensure this issue isn’t swept under the rug in the final days of the Congressional session:

Hey @McConnellPress and @SenatorReid: Don't ram through a 5-year extension on FISA Amendments Act. https://eff.org/r.2asn

Credit: www.eff.org

Web Update: World Conference on International Telecommunications

Hi my cyber zombie,

I received an email from Mike Rispoli from Access Campaign Team about World Conference on International Telecommunications that I want to share with you. Thank you, my cyber zombie for saving the internet but our work is never done. 

Here is the email:

Grace,

While the outcomes of the World Conference on International Telecommunications (WCIT) remain unsettled, one thing is clear -- without the hard work by you, global civil society, and rights-respecting governments, things would have been a whole lot worse and the open internet would have looked very different.

 

For now, what we can say is that the internet, the one we know and love, which has given the world a common platform for expression and innovation, will largely remain the same for now.

 

While many of the most dangerous proposals did not make it into the final treaty, a resolution was passed that instructs the ITU to take a more active role in internet policy in the future. But, it's more complicated than that. 

So what did happen in Dubai? 

 

Governments fought with governments. Meetings were held behind closed doors. Access sat down with the Secretary-General of the International Telecommunication Union (ITU) and made sure your voices were heard. Negotiations between countries inched toward a consensus before totally collapsing at the 11th hour. Delegations took to the floor and protested.

 

While the WCIT was at times dramatic theater, what has come out of two weeks of intense negotiations between the world's governments remains muddy.

 

With censorship, surveillance, and the human rights front and center at the Conference, a treaty was approved but lacks support from nearly a third of governments, calling into question its legitimacy. However, there are some serious concerns that the treaty's vague language could allow repressive regimes to justify their existing censorship and surveillance practices. 

 

While the ITU responded to some of our demands for greater transparency and inclusivity for civil society, holding meetings behind closed doors, not sending civil society comments on to delegates, and holding votes by “taking the temperature in the room” is a far cry from the kind of multistakeholderism we expect when it comes to internet policymaking. 

 

Access applauds the 55 countries who have indicated they will not sign the treaty today, which includes Australia, Costa Rica, Sweden, and the United States. We have also sent statements to other member states, urging them to reject the treaty. Some delegations are returning to their capitals before making a determination, and we believe they should consult with all those who will be affected by this treaty before deciding whether or not to sign it.

 

Want the good, the bad, and the ugly over what wound up in the treaty? Find out more on the Access blog by clicking the link below, and be sure to read our WCIT Watch posts to see what happened over the past two weeks:

 

https://www.accessnow.org/wcit-outcomes

 

For an open internet,

Mike Rispoli
Access Campaign Team

 

Web Alert: Did you know?

Hi my Cyber Zombies,

There is "You're Been Owned" Ribbon on left side of this website.  On Monday October 29, 2012, the U.S Supreme Court will decide whether you have the right to sell your stuff on eBay.

A federal court in New York says you would, even if you legally paid for and brought them. It's unbelievable, but trademark and copyright holders are trying to use a legal loophole to take away your right to sell things that you own.

Here is a petition that is going to Congress and President Obama below.


"We, the undersigned, believe that we should truly own the things that we buy. When
Americans purchase legitimate goods, they should be assured that the goods can be
resold, given away, and used in any legal manner they see fit.

The federal government should support and promote the ability of Americans to own
and use these products, not just rent and license them. The government, and this
administration, should support ownership rights for the following reasons:

1. Americans must have the right to buy a good, confident in the knowledge that they
own it and may use it for any legal purpose.

2. Americans need to be free to buy and sell their legitimate goods in a robust and
successful free market.

3. Goods manufactured overseas should not have more legal protection than
American-made goods.

These ownership rights are at issue in an upcoming case before the Supreme Court,
Kirtsaeng v. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. But that case is just one in a long line of events
that have eroded Americans' rights in their personal property. We ask that the President
express his support of ownership rights"

Please check out www.youvebeenowned.org for more information.

Web Alert: President Obama wants to control the internet and You are the target.

Republicans in the Senate blocked cybersecurity legislation. At least on this issue, there is a dime’s worth of difference between most Republicans and Democrats. So what is the White House considering? You guessed it — another executive order. Obama wants the authority and power to police the internet to protect us from “cyber threats.”

Who gets to define what constitutes a “cyber threat”? We think it means threats from foreign groups who want to bring down the United States. But there’s more to it.

The . . . Cybersecurity Act . . . would have encouraged private companies and the government to share information about cyber threats and would have required critical infrastructure operators to meet minimum cybersecurity standards.

Read more: http://godfatherpolitics.com/6475/obama-wants-to-control-the-internet-and-youre-the-target/#ixzz22oDi4QQA

Credit: @GodfatherPolitics

Grace Online Newsletter #2

Hi my cyber zombies,

I recently joined the Internet Defense League. Here is information on the Internet Defense League below:

"The Internet Defense League takes the tactic that killed SOPA & PIPA and turns it into a permanent force for defending the internet, and making it better. Think of it like the internet's Emergency Broadcast System, or its bat signal!

Internet freedom and individual power are changing the course of history. But entrenched institutions and monopolies want this to stop. Elected leaders often don't understand the internet, so they're easily confused or corrupted.

When the internet's in danger and we need millions of people to act, the League will ask its members to broadcast an action.  (Say, a prominent message asking everyone to call their elected leaders.)  With the combined reach of our websites and social networks, we can be massively more effective than any one organization."

Credit:  http://internetdefenseleague.org/.  

Please check out  http://internetdefenseleague.org/.  

Love Always,

Grace

Web Alert Now: Fight Back: YOUR FILES ON Google, Dropbox, Facebook, Tumblr, Instagram, YouTube, Flickr, etc. and even your emails are in jeopardy.

Demand Progress is fighting back in the courts and standing up for Internet users. We are taking on the United States and the MPAA. Please sign up at right to support our legal brief so the court understands that millions of people will be impacted by this decision. The judge is hearing the case TOMORROW.


BACKGROUND: One day after the Internet staged a massive blackout to protest Congress's Internet censorship legislation (SOPA/PIPA), the United States responded by seizing millions of ordinary user files hosted on the popular website Megaupload.com.

With an aim of shutting down Megaupload and other Cloud-based hosting services (like Dropbox, YouTube or even your email provider), the government is trying to claim website operators should face decades in prison for the misdeeds of some of their users. But while they pursue trumped up criminal charges against the companies' founders, they are shutting down dozens of websites, and leaving ordinary Internet users without any way of retrieving their files.

Apple co-founder Steve Wozniak called the case against Megaupload a "threat to innovation." Wozniak likened the Megaupload site to a highway and those who shared pirated movies and songs to speeding motorists. "You don't just shut down the whole street because somebody is speeding," he said.

Numerous laws on the books already give copyright holders plenty of avenues to stop actual infringement, but that's not enough to satisfy Hollywood's lawyers and lobbyists. The prosecutor in the case, Neil MacBride, previously served as the Anti-Piracy Vice President of the Business Software Alliance, where he represented the intellectual property interests of countless multinational corporations.

Now Hollywood's lobbyists, represented by the Motion Picture Association of America, want him to make it nearly impossible for ordinary Internet users to get their property back.

Credit: @DemandProgress and http://www.theinternetvshollywood.com/

Web Alert Now: Stop The Trap

Right now, a group of 600 industry lobbyist "advisors" and un-elected government trade representatives are scheming behind closed doors^1,2 to craft an international agreement called the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP).

Why the secrecy? We know from leaked documents³ that the TPP includes what amounts to an Internet trap that would:

1. Criminalize⁴ some of your everyday use of the Internet,
2. Force service providers to collect and hand over your private datawithout privacy safeguards⁵, and
3. Give media conglomerates more power to fine you for Internet use,⁶ remove online content—including entire websites—and eventerminate⁷ your access to the Internet.
4. The TPP would create a parallel legal system of international tribunals that will undermine national sovereignty and allow conglomerates to sue countries for laws that infringe on their profits.

The TPP's Internet trap is secretive, extreme, and it could criminalize your daily use of the Internet. You could be fined for simply clicking on the wrong link. We deserve to know what will be blocked, what we and our families will be fined for.

If enough of us speak out now, we can force participating governments to come clean. Your signature will send a message to each country's leaders.⁸ Please sign the petition.

Credit: http://stopthetrap.net/?tag=201206omihome and @OpenMedia

Web Alert Now: Don't Let Copyright Holders Steal Our Property Right!

Do you really own the smartphone or computer you’re using to read this? If you sold your books, would you be breaking the law? A federal court in New York says you would be, even if you legally paid for and bought them.

It's unbelievable, but trademark and copyright holders really are trying to use a legal loophole to take away your right to sell things that you own: Please add your name at right to fight back.

Public interest advocates are taking the case all the way to the Supreme Court, and Demand Progress is joining up with a coalition of groups -- including many of those that came together to kill SOPA -- to support the rights of ordinary Internet users and everyday consumers.

We are working to defend a long-standing principle known as the "First-Sale Doctrine." This common-sense rule gives us the right to sell most property we own, but big businesses have been trying to chip away at out our rights in the courts. If the Supreme Court supports the lower court’s decision, we won't really “own” anything if any part of it was made in a different country. And practically anything you own -- from your iPod to your house -- could have been made abroad, in whole or in part.

We only have a few months to make our voices heard before the Supreme Court makes a lasting ruling. We are asking President Obama and the U.S. Department of Justice to stand up for the little guy: The President can urge the Court to side with consumers, but he'll only do it if we bring enough pressure to bear.

If we lose this fight, practically anybody who wants to resell products they bought -- from Macbooks and iPhones to our clothing and textbooks -- will have to ask copyright holders for permission first. And they'll have the right to deny it!

It's bad for so many reasons: It'll undermine Craigslist and Ebay, hurt the environment, increase incentives for manufacturers to move jobs off-shore, and effectively ban the traditional American yard sale. For more info, please check out Marvin Ammori's article about the lawsuit.

Credit @DemandProgress and http://www.youvebeenowned.org/

WebAlert: CISPA

Web Alert: New York Senate bill seeks to end anonymous internet posting

By Tecca | Today in Tech – 6 hrs ago

Anonymity is a double-edged sword. On the one hand, the United States was founded, in part, thanks to Thomas Paine's anonymously written, pro-revolution pamphlet Common Sense. On the other hand, 12-year-olds who post anonymously on the internet can be rather unpleasant and cause real problems by cyberbullying. Whether you think the good outweighs the bad, this news is troubling indeed: A far-reaching bill introduced in the New York State Senate could end the practice of posting online once and for all.

Sen. Thomas F. O'Mara / NY SenateIntroduced by New York State Sen. Thomas F. O'Mara (R—Big Flats), S6779 would require that any anonymous post online is subject to removal if the poster refuses to post — and verify — their legal name, their IP address, and their home address. From the (likely well intentioned) bill:

"A web site administrator upon request shall remove any comments posted on his or her web site by an anonymous poster unless such anonymous poster agrees to attach his or her name to the post and confirms that his or her IP address, legal name, and home address are accurate. All web site administrators shall have a contact number or e-mail address posted for such removal requests, clearly visible in any sections where comments are posted."

Critics are quick to point out how dangerous and ineffective the anti-privacy bill would be in the off chance that it somehow passes.  After all, IP addresses do nothing to verify a person's identity, and including your home address on a controversial internet post could open you up to real-life threats.

In effect, the bill is an online stalker's dream. Of course, the most likely result of the bill's passage would just be the full-scale elimination of all comment systems everywhere, because the system is an unworkable burden on both the poster and the "web site administrators" who would need to respond to ludicrous take down requests at all times of the day.

[via Geekosystem]

This article was written by Fox Van Allen and originally appeared on Tecca

Credit: http://news.yahoo.com/blogs/technology-blog/york-senate-bill-seeks-end-anonymous-internet-posting-162549128.html

CISPA was passed in the House of Representatives

Credit: @DemandProgress