John Fleming, a Republican US representative from Louisiana, made a dimwitted mistake on his Facebook page last week. Hell, it might be even more embarrassing than naked pics! Here’s what happened: Fleming missed the obvious humour of a satirical piece by The Onion and posted the fake piece to his Facebook followers as a real thing to take seriously. How did this man get elected? More »
The Anti-Counterfeiting Trade Agreement, or ACTA to its friends, is coming under fire in the EU from those who fear it will lead to online censorship. But it’s recieved particular attention from the public of Poland, and that’s been reflected by some of the nation’s politicians. More »
What happens when you reply to an email in which the entire German parliament is looped in? You send that mail server into complete and utter chaos, which, I would assume, brings der legislative machine to a screeching halt. More »
Over in the States, US President Obama had technology on the brain in his annual State of the Union address. Here’s what was interesting about this vision for the future. More »
Before a few dense US senators threatened to start shutting down websites without any semblance of due process, there was another SOPA: the Scottish Organic Producers Association. And unfortunately, this small band of farmers found themselves on the receiving end of last week’s public fury. More »
The Stop Online Piracy Act is on ice for now in the US, but has all the noise it created given our own government ideas on how it would approach the issue of online piracy? There’s some slight cross-over with the filter, yes, but the far-reaching powers that a SOPA-like piece of legislation would grant go way beyond keeping the kids safe, as it were. More »
Microsoft, along with Nike and RealNetworks, believe Washington’s failure to recognise gay marriage has gone on long enough. So they’ve called out the state government, pushing for legislators to pass the two gay marriage bills currently circulating through their chambers. More »
According to CNET, US House Rep. Lamar Smith — aka the most vocal proponent of the proposed SOPA legislation — just announced that the House will put the bill on hold. More »
In response to the online blackout in protest of the proposed SOPA and PIPA bills floating around US congress, Senate leader Harry Reid has opted to postpone the vote on the bill, believing there’s a way to first find compromise between all parties. More »