Yet another reason to end the failed War on Drugs: by far most U.S. wiretaps are for that one reason. Sure, a wiretap helped catch a Mexican drug lord. But without the War on Drugs, there would be no drug lords, just like alcohol bootleggers vanished after Prohibition ended.
Brian Anderson wrote for Motherboard 15 July 2014, Almost 90 Percent of All US Wiretaps Listen for Suspected Drug Deals,
Earlier this year, Continue reading
Julian Assange of Wikileaks spoke from the Ecuadorean Embassy in London today (video, text):
The next time somebody tells you that it is pointless to defend the rights we hold dear, remind them of your vigil in the dark outside the Embassy of Ecuador, and how, in the morning, the sun came up on a different world, and a courageous Latin American nation took a stand for justice.
The British government made a stunning mistake in throwing away the worldwide goodwill just gained through the London Olympic Games, by actually beginning to storm a sovereign embassy in violation of the Vienna Convention on Diplomatic Relations that was observed throughout the Cold War. How could they be so foolish? This man, this reporter and publisher, they think is somehow more dangerous to them than the armed might of the Soviet Union was? This is as if JFK arrested MLK after John Glenn’s first orbital flight (a step which JFK fortunately did not take).
There is something you can do, even when the world is turned upside down:
Continue reading
It would let big corporate copyright holders impose monitoring,
take down websites, and cut off funding, all without need for a court order.
There’s still time to oppose it.
Parker Higgins wrote for EFF Monday, The PROTECT IP Act Is Very Real and Very Bad — Call Now to Block It
The PROTECT IP Act (PIPA) is the evil step-sister of the Stop Online Piracy Act (SOPA), the much-criticized Internet blacklist bill introduced in the House last month. They’ve got a lot in common — both bills would allow the government and private rightsholders to censor the Internet for Americans, and both bills have faced strong opposition from regular citizens, business leaders, and public interest groups.Here’s one way to contact your elected representatives. Or call them on the telephone. See also LAKE’s contact information for national elected officials.In one way, though, PIPA is much worse: while SOPA is still in the House committee stage and has been the target of extraordinary public opposition, PIPA is already out of committee and poised for consideration of the full Senate. That means PIPA is a few dangerous steps further along in the process of becoming law. And with only a few weeks to go in this legislative session, the Senate may try to rush the bill through before the public has a chance to respond.
-jsq
He’s back from Afghanistan and has a new plan to fight McDonald’s.
Vince Schneider asked the County Commission for an ordinance about hours.
After quoting from the U.S. Tenth and Fourth Amendments and talking about privacy rights, he read similar passages from the Georgia Constitution, and this one, from Section II. Origin and Structure of Government:
All government, of right, originates with the people, is founded upon their will only, and is instituted solely for the good of the whole. Public officers are the trustees and servants of the people and are at all times amenable to them.He then read a definition of ordinance, and noted that many ordinances deal with issues of safety, health, morals, etc.
His recommendation: for the Commission to pass an ordinance limiting hours of operation for such type of enterprises.
That’s the county attorney visible directly past Schneider (under the microphone). Of course it’s the commissioners who must propose and pass any ordinance. That will require Continue reading
We are the media, and you can be, too!
According to the OPEN Government Act of 2007:
[T]he term ‘a representative of the news media’ means any person or entity that gathers information of potential interest to a segment of the public, uses its editorial skills to turn the raw materials into a distinct work, and distributes that work to an audience. In this clause, the term ‘news’ means information that is about current events or that would be of current interest to the public. Examples of news-media entities are television or radio stations broadcasting to the public at large and publishers of periodicals (but only if such entities qualify as disseminators of ‘news’) who make their products available for purchase by or subscription by or free distribution to the general public. These examples are not all-inclusive. Moreover, as methods of news delivery evolve (for example, the adoption of the electronic dissemination of newspapers through telecommunications services), such alternative media shall be considered to be news-media entities.
Here is the bill’s full text. The bill was sponsored by Sen. Patrick Leahy and 17 others, ranging from Sen. Barack Obama to Sen. Johnny Isakson. It was signed into law by President George W. Bush 31 December 2007.
Of course that’s really just a detail, having to do with the
Wikileaks comparison.
Most of what LAKE does has more to do with Georgia law, about open records requests and this passage, O.C.G.A. § 50-14-1-c.:
“Visual, sound, and visual and sound recording during open meetings shall be permitted.”
None of that requires a news medium. Any citizen can file open records requests or record public meetings. Remember, you are the media!
-jsq for
LAKE, the Lowndes Area Knowledge Exchange
Some people compare LAKE to Wikileaks, so let’s go there.
Julian Assange, like
Wendell Berry,
links the civil rights movement and the environmental movement.
He
then says:
“For the Internet generation this is our challenge and this is our time. We support a cause that is no more radical a proposition than that the citizenry has a right to scrutinise the state. The state has asserted its authority by surveilling, monitoring and regimenting all of us, all the while hiding behind cloaks of security and opaqueness. Surely it was only a matter of time before citizens pushed back and we asserted our rights.”
LAKE’s motto is:
Citizen dialog for transparent processThat makes Assange’s proposition
“the citizenry has a right to scrutinise the state”sound very familiar to us.
Locally it’s more a matter of elected and appointed bodies ignoring their chartered responsibilities to the public good and the general welfare. Well, many people are also tired of the permit inspection brigade, but that’s another story.
Assange also adds: Continue reading