Official Anonymous twitter account posted a bold status which linked to their list of demands against current rules and legislations titled “Bright, and Clear: The Future of Free Speech”. The list contains details of what and how the freedom and internet can be saved and not ruined by Government and Censorship.
A rallying cry on the occassion of the Web’s first mass blackout
As we watch the web go dark today in protest against the SOPA/PIPA censorship bills, let’s take a moment and reflect on why this fight is so important. We may have learned that free speech is what makes America great, or instinctively resist attempts at silencing our voices. But these are abstract principles, divorced from the real world and our daily lives.
Free speech is the foundation of a free society. We can have the vote all we want. We can donate money wherever we want. But unless we’re able to talk to each other and figure out collectively _what_ we want, those things don’t matter.
We believe a healthy society doesn’t allow its artists, musicians and other creators to starve. The copyright industry has been justly criticized for abusing the political process in a desperate attempt to maintain its role as a cultural gatekeeper, a business model made obsolete by a digital age of free copies. But the RIAA, MPAA & IFPI deserve our opprobrium for making enormous profits while often leaving the very artists it claims to represent *poorer* than they would be as independents.[1] While the public may have greater access to the few artists deemed sufficiently marketable to gain mass media promotion, fewer and fewer of us are making art and music in our own lives.
The list demands the Government, Courts and Legislatures to educate themselves about the technological issues they oversee and respect the opinions of the experts available. It demands that the laws that bound the copyright infringement should be reasonable and not substantiated. So no more “Jammie Thomas” with outrageous penalties stacked on them.
Anonymous demand that the Department of Justice must begin an anti-trust investigation into the copyright industry, with a specific focus on collusion between rightsholders and ISPs in monitoring Internet users, and payola and cross ownership with mass media.
Take a look at the list of demands by Anonymous, and share what you think about them.
