electrician Lynchburg

raginggrannies:

Make no bones about it, our beloved internet is in serious danger…

and here is why.

Last year legislative measures were introduced in the United States Senate and United States House of Representatives, S. 968 (the “PROTECT IP Act”) and H.R. 3261 (the “Stop Online Piracy Act”).  Their primary purpose, as we see it, is to help Hollywood keep rolling in the profits. Passage of these bills would mean that so-called “rogue” websites could be censored when they infringe on copyright law.

BUT…the language in both of these bills is written with a very broad paintbrush. Their passage would have a huge impact on the work of human rights advocates who speak out against injustice on sites that could easily be labelled “rogue” websites. It’s a slippery slope when censorship reigns. 

The indymedia network that thrives on open publishing (and our favorite www.indybay.org here in the San Francisco Bay Area) would be subject to censorship, defeating the very purpose of its existence.  Similar platforms created to provide anonymity to whistleblowers could become major casualties of these bills.

All to save Hollywood’s bottom line? 

It’s not often that Raging Grannies align with the likes of Facebook and Google. We’ve protested at Facebook about their lack of privacy considerations, and at Google because of their flip-flop on internet neutrality.  (After we demonstrated last time at Google we wound up on  Jon Stewart’s ‘The Daily Show’ and in a New York Times photo).  But this time we are on the same side with the two internet giants. They too have come out AGAINST these Hollywood generated bills.

We are keeping track of who supports PIPA in the Senate and SOPA in the house through this useful site.  And we are taking action.

Our Senator Dianne Feinstein has disappointed us before by not standing up for Social Security…she disappoints us again by being a co-sponsor of PIPA. We are sent her an open letter with the photo above.

And we applaud our local Silicon Valley Congresswomen Zoe Lofgren and Anna Eshoo who say NO to SOPA.

US Senators from California Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein are listed as PIPA co-sponsors. You can contact Senator Boxer at (202) 224-3553 and Senator Feinstein at (202) 224-3841. In other states, reach out to your own US senator.

Tell them the PIPA is dangerous…it could be used as a tool for online censorship.  Tell them what websites YOU use that could become toast, and why you think it is important that we have a free internet.

Please tell your Congressperson to vote NO on SOPA. 

Our friends at the Electric Frontier Foundation and Save the Internet help us stay up to date on what can be done to keep the internet free of censorship. We proudly stand together with them for internet freedom.

marsbot:

Icon-olution

As mentioned in a previous post about the evolution of our iphone app, one of the great things about working at a start up is the ability to iterate and the speed at which you can do this. As we strive to improve our product, we wanted to make sure we had an icon that reflected the current state of our brand. 

To achieve this, we made a few subtle changes to the icon as opposed to a big change. This didn’t feel like the appropriate time to do a complete revolution; an evolution felt more apt. 

You’ll notice we’ve rounded and softened the edges to better align with other illustrative elements you find in our app such as badges and icons. We’ve replaced the purple ball with a green ball, as purple no longer lives in our color palette elsewhere in the app or site. Green is one of our primary colors and we wanted that represented here. We’ve also gone back to a less perfectly parallel trail of the ball (which also makes our iconic check mark) to inject a more playful feel into the icon while still maintaining our clean edges and lines. 

(note: I was not the original designer of this icon and this current evolution is the result of several talented designers on our team)

youranonnews:

ACTA in a Nutshell –

What is ACTA?  ACTA is the Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement. A new intellectual property enforcement treaty being negotiated by the United States, the European Community, Switzerland, and Japan, with Australia, the Republic of Korea, New Zealand, Mexico, Jordan, Morocco, Singapore, the United Arab Emirates, and Canada recently announcing that they will join in as well.

Why should you care about ACTA? Initial reports indicate that the treaty will have a very broad scope and will involve new tools targeting “Internet distribution and information technology.”

What is the goal of ACTA? Reportedly the goal is to create new legal standards of intellectual property enforcement, as well as increased international cooperation, an example of which would be an increase in information sharing between signatory countries’ law enforcement agencies.

Negotiating Parties - 

• Australia
• Canada
• European Union
• Japan
• Mexico
• Morocco
• New Zealand
• The Republic of Korea
• Singapore
• Switzerland
• United States

Essential ACTA Resources - 

• HOW TO ACT AGAINST ACTA: Make a difference
• Read more about ACTA here: ACTA Fact Sheet
• Read the authentic version of the ACTA text as of 15 April 2011, as finalized by participating countries here: ACTA Finalized Text
• Follow the history of the treaty’s formation here: ACTA history
• Read letters from U.S. Senator Ron Wyden wherein he challenges the constitutionality of ACTA: Letter 1 | Letter 2 | Read the Administration’s Response to Wyden’s First Letter here: Response
• Watch a short informative video on ACTA: ACTA Video
• Watch a lulzy video on ACTA: Lulzy Video
• Reuters: ACTA signed in Tokyo: Article
• United States ACTA: Read
• European Union Trade Commission ACTA: Read
• Australian Gov’t ACTA: Read
• Canadian Internet Policy and Public Interest Clinic: Read
• ACTA Undermines Access to Medicines: Article

Say NO to ACTA. It is essential to spread awareness and get the word out on ACTA. #ActAgainstACTA